One thing I've noticed over the many years of reading news stories that nearly every time someone's son, juvenile or adult, is implicated in a heinous crime their behavior is dismissed by family or friends because, after all, he's a "good boy" and thus incapable of rape, molestation or murder.
And so it goes with four boys down in Florida, all of them middle school students who have been charged as adults for repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old male classmate in the boys' locker room.
The boys have all admitted to the crime. One of them is 15, the other three are 14.
Even more frustrating than the fact that such young people voluntarily engaged in such horrific behavior is the fact that the assaults were witnessed on several occasions by others who NEVER CAME FORWARD to let school officials know this was happening.
To say that everyone involved -- alleged perpetrators and witnesses -- suffers from an extreme lack of integrity is an understatement. What compels some kids to do these things and others to be complicit by their silence?
The headline to this story would have been enough for me if I hadn't been so curious to see whether the "good boy" card would be pulled.
Sure enough, towards the bottom of the piece, "Defense attorneys told the judge their clients were good students and had never been in trouble before. Attorney Tim Taylor, representing Randall Moye, said his client's family is among the finest in the community.
So what are they saying? Aliens stole these kids' brains and turned them into hateful, vicious monsters?
Once again, someone has confused good grades and admirable lineage with character.
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