Mood:
sadNow Playing: Forever Young
Topic: 002 - Punished to Death
“There's more to this story, I'm sure. A healthy 9-year-old body should be resilient enough to withstand a great deal of physical activity. If a child is regularly denied nourishment and hydration, it would result in a weakened condition for the child. Before anyone jumps on me about jumping to conclusions, this is just me trynna figure out how a child of that age could die from a 3 hour run.”
The above comment by an individual using the pseudo name of minerva117 on the coverage provided by the Huffington Post regarding this tragedy caught my attention. I can agree with only the first line because I also believe that there is always ‘more to the story’ than is reported regardless of the subject or who is doing the reporting.
Personally I believe that this individual’s comment was not quite so well thought out prior to posting it because the overall ignorance of what is actually required of the human body to run for a three hour period [regardless of age] is brilliantly presented. However, I decided to actually attempt some form of basic explanation that would fit within the maximum 250 word count allowed for comments made on the Huffington Post. The posted comment is as follows:
[quote] “One point that comes to my mind after reading this article is that she was being ‘punished’ for eating chocolate because of a bladder condition that was irritated by the caffeine. Unfortunately the other problem that I’m sure they [the step-mother and grandmother] were not aware of is that caffeine is also a culprit for adverse effects in physical activity, especially running.
In the early days of my military service we were all told to avoid certain types of foods at least a day [12 hours] prior to any serious physical fitness training. The Fitness Test administered once a year only required a 2 mile run with a time limit that varied based on sex and age. The same with the push-ups and sit-ups, the time frame of 2 minutes was standard across the board; however the required repetitions varied based on the soldiers sex and age.
My point referencing this article is that this young girl had consumed chocolate which contains caffeine and was allegedly punished by having to run for 3 hours. Caffeine is at the top of the list of things to avoid consuming prior to any serious physical exercise. The Fitness Test required by the Army if completed within the required time frame took less than 30 minutes. Running for 3 hours straight goes beyond serious physical training. [end quote]
Therefore my personal opinion on this situation is that this young girl was ‘punished to death’ even though it was because of a lack of knowledge on the part of the participants.”
However, as usual I have so much more to say on this topic than is allowed based on the [understandable] restrains currently in place by Huffington Post.
I’m not going to do it for everyone, however interested parties can look it up for themselves on the web; the fact that there are numerous accounts of young athletes both male and female that have suffered various forms of irreparable physical damage and even death due to their participation in organized athletic events which are supported by the school systems. These are individuals who were active participants in programs that required them to perform a certain amount of physical activity on a regularly scheduled basis. They were not individuals who just went out one day and decided to run for three hours straight.
Regardless of any additional health factors, children’s bodies are not developed enough to withstand the physical rigors of strenuous exercise. Even older, more experienced athletes would not attempt to run for a three hour period without some form of ‘buildup’ time.
In my opinion what these women allegedly forced this young girl to do went well above and beyond the realm of punishment. This was flat out torturous abuse on a level that must be addressed as such.
I will continue to follow this article, if for nothing else to shake my head for the comments posted by the likes of minerva117.
Source:
The Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/23/jessica-hardin-accused-of_n_1297842.html
