I keep trying to wrap my head around how anyone could leave a baby or animal in a parked car with the windows up in the summer heat and I just cannot grasp it. How do you put a child in a car seat in 90-degree heat and then think it is okay to leave that child in the car while you go off to have lunch in the mall or whatever? The part that kills me is that these people always act surprised when their child either passes away or the police have to break the window to save the child. The less surprising part is that the system usually gives the children back to these stupid and neglectful parents.

The thing that prevented me from going completely mental about this is that I can kind of understand when ignorant people do these things, but when the police started to do it, then I got concerned. I do not know the circumstances of the incidents (I believe one officer had put the air conditioning on in his car, but the air conditioning failed while he was away from the car) but I do know that it concerns me that police officers are now leaving dogs in hot cars without any regard to the lives of those animals.

It would stand to reason that the more helpless members of our society and the ones who cannot talk for themselves become victims of these things. It isn’t like a pet can say “Hey stupid, it is hot in here so don’t leave me in here to bake.” It would also be impossible for a baby to say the same thing, but that does not excuse the ability of people to forget about their little passengers.

If you are too stupid to realize that you should not leave a pet or a child baking in a hot car with the windows up, then you are too stupid to have them. Why CPS does not take these children away from their neglectful and stupid parents is beyond me. There is no argument that can be used to justify such actions, so don’t even try. If you know someone who has done this, then that person is an idiot. You can tell them I said so. If you have done this, then you are an idiot.

I mean, people freak out when they forget their smartphones in their cars and they will run all the way across the mall parking lot to get to their cars to retrieve their phones. But yet there are still Neanderthals among us who don’t have the common sense to know that you do not leave a child or a pet baking in the summer sun in a close vehicle.

I believe a law of some kind was passed that allows the police to break in windows when a pet or child is suffering in a car. If I ever see a situation like that, I won’t wait for the police. And do you know what would happen if I broke the window of a car that had a suffering child in it? The owner of that car (which is also normally the parent of that child) could have me arrested for breaking their property, and the officer would arrest me. Then I would insist that CPS be called to get that child away from the neglectful parent and nothing would be done. That is the society we live in.

Americans slam into buildings for no reason and allow their pets and children to die in the summer heat as they are locked into their cars with the windows closed. These are two activities that I simply do not understand and never will understand. At least with the running into buildings, there is the possibility that the driver had suffered some sort of medical emergency that caused the incident to happen. This is usually not the case, but it has been the cause in the past.

So what is the excuse of the parent that leaves a pet or a child in the car to die? I am sorry, but I can no longer accept stupidity as an excuse for some of the things people do. If you are that stupid, then you should not be allowed to care for children or pets. But yet we let it happen and these stupid people keep on making headlines. I just don’t understand.

+George N Root III is a Lockport resident, a grandfather to two wonderful little boys, and a proud pet owner. Follow him on Twitter @georgenroot3 or contact him at georgenroot3@gmail.com. 

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