turning bad into worse

So around here in the news lately, is an awful story. A 14 year old kid and his 12 year old friend were temporarily left in a Jeep with the keys in the ingnition and the motor running at a convenience store, at which point they took the car for an impromptu joyride that resulted in a horrific accident whereby they lost control and ran the Jeep into the wall of a home, striking and killing a young woman (a wife, a mother) who was sitting and watching T.V.

A true nightmare, in every sense of the word. This woman's children were upstairs playing at the time that their mom was killed out of the blue...in the sacred space of comfort that they called "home."

I didn't think the story could get worse. Until I heard that prosecuters have charged the 14 year old as an adult, and if convicted, he would end up with something like 40 years in prison.

And then the whole thing became worse yet, as I read local letters to the editor. (I know, I know - I shouldn't read such things, but I like to. It's a way of keeping my finger on the pulse of the society I live in...even when that pulse makes me pull away in horror). The vitriol that spewed forth in these letters was horrifying. I haven't counted, but it seems like the vast (VAST, in capital letters) majority of those who are the sort to feel compelled to write a letter to the editor are ready to hang this child, to tar and feather him, to strip him of any semblance of humanity, and to throw him out into the wasteland of irretrievable souls.

This is a frickin' CHILD!!!!!!!!!

Yah, he may be stupid, he may be thoughtless and careless and worse, he may be irresponsible and in need of help, he may be a "bad kid", but he is a fourteen year old child. He had a moment of stupid behavior...I can relate to that. I wonder how many of us, if faced with circumstances that we couldn't fully comprehend as a child, would react as a child, or would exhibit more adult-like restraint? How many of us, but for the luck of the draw, could be finding ourselves on the brink of a lifetime of incarceration with a world of criminals when we are not even cresting the brink of adulthood? See the thing is - he really was just being stupid. He didn't set out to harm anyone. The end result was beyond horrific, but it wasn't his intent.

I understand the anger here. The anger is on behalf of these young girls who have suddenly found themselves without a mother - how can we even comprehend the devastation of those lives? But to turn that anger onto another child? I just can't do that. Isn't the definition of humanity the ability to overcome gut emotions and react in a way that is...humane? Caring? Beneficial to society? I don't know? What IS the definition of humanity? How many of us have really moved beyond the ability to follow that knee-jerk reaction? Are we really so collectively immature as that?

Gah. Heavy stuff. I just keep thinking about this stupid 14 year old and I want to first knock him over the head and make him see what he has done, and then I want to hold him and protect him from the angry vultures that want to peck his eyes out to make themselves feel better. It's a difficult world sometimes, it is.