Chutzpah Syndrome

Reading the news about the Menendez case has given me a new insight to what justice is all about.  My Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary has a word listed as "chutzpah" n. (Yiddish), supreme self-confidence, nerve, gall. 

As a child I was told by one of my teachers that chutzpah is unmitigated audacity.  The example given was of a child who is brought to court after killing his parents.  The defense lawyer asks the judge to be compassionate, "After all, the child is an orphan."

As I read of the Lyle and Erik trials, how each brother is now claiming to be victims, I begin to wonder if I'm missing something.  Children are killing their parents in cold blood and crying victim? 

We should add to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition a new syndrome called the Chutzpah Syndrome.  This would work well if you had a problem with your boss, school or any authority figure.

For example, your parents tells you to take out the garbage while you are watching your favorite MTV show, to finish your dinner because children are starving in Somalia,  or be home by 11:00 P.M. and threatens you with, "You can't take the car keys."  What's the solution? Simple kill your parents and claim self-defense.  To ensure that your plea is good, you proceed to put the dead parents on trial.  You ask your dead parents, "Why did you make me kill you?"  You cry, saying you're sorry you were born to such  parents but you did the right thing, giving a new meaning to, "Killing by kindness."  If mediums were real, the parents would send their message of sincere thanks.

This rather perverse and convoluted thinking is taking place in our justice system.

Imagine going to group therapy with a problem of losing your temper,  causing you to name call.  There, you are told by a therapist that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me" is not true.  Rather, words and feelings hurt deeply, very, very deeply and they last for many years if not forever.  What's the alternative?  Perhaps shooting the person you don't like is the best way of dealing with the problem, this will cause less hurt. After all, you only have to kill the person only once.

The correct alternative is to move away from your parents or from the environment that seems to be causing you problems. 

The Menendez murder trial has created new problems.  Mental trauma has been interpreted to be a justified reason for violence.  A new defense, "I was forced into doing it," has evolved.

With a hung jury for Erik Menendez, Attorney Leslie Abramson is becoming the hero for disturbed youth.  Arguments of incest, physical and mental abuses seem to be the answer for justifying violence.  Ms. Abramson goes around treating "the boys" as sad and abused children who were neglected for many years, "Dead end kids".  She has, presented us with a unique way to treat the dysfunctional family. 

Let's simply blow away the problem. 

Let me illustrate.  A son  likes to use drugs and watches the wrong kind of shows, destroying the family harmony.  Well, what do you do?  Get a shotgun and BAM, no more problem.  Your wife is neglecting you.  She's interested in her work more than in her marriage.  She's causing you too much stress.  NO problem.  Get a shotgun.  BAM. You have a bad case of Chutzpah syndrome.

In either case, I'm sure Ms. Abramson will find a reason to help you.  She may even take your case pro bono. 

Now don't think being the victim is an easy thing.  After you commit murder, you're expected to go on shopping spree (don't forget to take a shower if a little blood is on you) or if you need a watch or two, just roll it off the hand of your dead parent or family member. 

All these scenarios are now possible because of the wide coverage given to this case and the sensationalism that it has caused.  "Boys will be boys," as the saying goes but, "For crying out loud, why, is this case being diminished to boys when we're talking about young men who have committed cold blooded murder?"

Lyle and Erik Menendez were not facing parents who were hurting them or causing them all kinds of grief.  Their parents were busy eating berries, ice-cream and junk food while relaxing in the television room.  There is no way, shape or form that can explain why, after shooting their parents, the boys went out, reloaded their guns while their poor mother crawled on all fours.  Even a blind person could see that they were not being threatened. 

In no way can their actions be rationalized except through the Chutzpah Syndrome.  If a person ends up being the victim, maybe he is the cause of his own problem.  From now on we must show true sympathy.  This kind of reasoning just doesn't work.

I have an elderly grandmother in her 90's.  Once I asked her about my cousins that lived in a large home with many children.  During the day a man in his early twenties broke into the home looking for drugs and money.  When he couldn't find any, he proceeded to burn down the house.  The little children were able to run out but there was one child who hid under the bed while the fire burned and miraculously he was saved.

When speaking about the miracle, I said, "The man who started the fire must be crazy."  My grandmother gave me a puzzled look and said, "The man who started the fire wasn't crazy.  He simply was wicked, a bad person.  Crazy means that after finding neither money nor drugs he would have run his head into the wall in desperation.  Wicked means he decided to be vengeful and just burn the house down."

My grandmother didn't take too many classes in popular psychology.  She was too busy raising a good family in Europe and taking an interest in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There is a saying, "What life teaches you, no books can," and that is evident by her all-knowing answers to our problems. 

Yes, it takes a lot of Chutzpah to call a cold-blooded murderer a victim; treating the act as a mercy killing all in the name of justice and, "You made me do it!"  I believe it's time to wake up, smell the coffee and call a killer a killer.