Being ‘illegal’ in Mexico is no way to treat affluenza

When authorities located Ethan Couch and his mommy just outside of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, they didn’t have their “papers.”

So the boy who was never taught about right and wrong (at least according to his defense team) finally learned a lesson and was taken into custody.

Wow. There’s a juxtaposition: They weren’t poor, willing to work and in the U.S. illegally. No, these two were rich, trying to run away from responsibility and in Mexico illegally.

As much as I’d like to make this about how our neighbor to the south gives zero slack to people who enter their country in an illegal fashion, I’m not going to. Instead I’m going to make this about learning lessons — something we ALL have to do — even when our parents try to rescue us from them. Actually, especially if our parents try to rescue us from them.

In case you need a short primer, Couch was 16 years old when a juvenile justice judge sentenced him to 10 years of probation for killing four people in a drunk-driving crash; a crash that also left another person unable to move or talk.

A psychologist hired by the defense used the term “affluenza” to describe Ethan’s life: One in which his parents never set limits for the boy and gave him everything he wanted. In other words, he wasn’t completely responsible for the deadly crash, because he’d never learned right from wrong, hence probation instead of jail.

Fast forward a couple years, and Ethan misses an appointment with his probation officer. About the same time, a video of Ethan attending a game of beer pong surfaces and he goes on the lamb with his mommy, Tonya.

That’s because Mommy still couldn’t bear for him to face any consequences. I’m assuming he would’ve tested positive for alcohol and that would’ve led to his probation being revoked.

Now, it’s all compounded. She’s looking at doing time, and he will likely have his case moved to big-boy court and (eventually) big-boy prison.

She didn’t rescue him from anything. She actually caused him the most pain possible. He’s headed for severe consequences and, not only does he not have his mommy to rescue him, but he has no skill set to deal with those consequences.

The parents that gave him everything he wanted gave him almost none of what he needed. In trying to save him from any pain, they caused massive pain for others. In trying to save him from ever hearing the word “no,” he will be facing a lifetime of it.

And in trying to save him from having to learn any of life’s lessons, he will likely not have much of a life at all to apply any lessons to.

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