I haven't bothered to follow the Winona Ryder fiasco, but if you have bothered turning your television on over the past year, then you'd know that you couldn't really escape some portion of the whole ordeal. You'd also know that today was her "sentencing" day. I use the term 'sentencing' very loosely. As expected, she got off with a mere slap on the wrist. After all, we can't send a celebrity of her status to jail. She's simply too wealthy and classy to do her time with other low lifes. She was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and perform 480 hours of community service. The judge ordered Ryder to serve her community service by April 7, saying she would have to spend 240 hours at City of Hope, 120 hours at the Foundation for the Junior Blind, and 120 hours at the Caring for Babies With Aids Foundation. And just when you think this thing couldn't get any lower, her defense attorney reminded the judge that Ryder had, among other good deeds, posted a reward to find the murderer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was kidnapped from her Petaluma home in 1993. I cannot believe they had the audacity to drag a dead child's name into this in order to get Ryder off the hook for what she did. They used Polly Klaas' name to make Winon Ryder appear to be a mortal. Can you get any lower? What does that have to do with her being a thief? Does she think that one good deed out does one bad deed? She donates a tiny portion of her fortune to one cause and suddenly she can do no wrong. It's not as if the amount she donated even made a dent in her pocket book. She makes $20,000,000 per movie and she's a celebrity, so you know she is always being given free gifts from everywhere. And what she isn't given, she takes. That would be like me donating $1,000 to the cause. I can live without that money. It wouldn't make me or break me. The judge in this case told Ryder that it was not his intent to make an example of her. Well, I should hope not. What kind of example is being set when we let our kids know that it's OK to shoplift as long as they are not poor and can afford what hey are stealing? That makes absolutely no sense to me. He also told Ryder that she has refused to accept personal responsibility for what she has done and if she steals again, she will go to jail. Of course she hasn't accepted responsibility. No one has attempted to make her accept it and she pays her lawyers top money to make sure she doesn't have to accept it. And something else that bothers me is the fact that she has supporters in all of this. She has fans and other celebrities standing behind her and making excuses for her. She doesn't even have to feel any humility in all of this. I just hope that she some day has to face a higher source, where she'll get what she really deserves.
