God Help the Children

This past week the local news sickened me. Past the point of revulsion. I refuse to watch it broadcast any longer. Because it struck home.

I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed on Monday and listening to the 10 o'clock broadcast, when the story of a young teenage girl with cerebral palsey who had been gang raped by a group of young men was aired. The males, who's ages ranged from fourteen through adult, had video taped their violations that had occurred numerous times. The boys claim the sex had been consensual. The fifteen year old girl has the mental capacity of an eight year old. I was shaking with rage as I set down my toothbrush and stared disbelieving at the TV screen.

As a mother of a child who was also born with cerebral palsey, the thought of the contemptible atrocity those boys did burned me to the very core. I sympathize with the hell that girls poor mother must be going through. Had it been my child who had been hurt, I would of hunted them all down individuality and beat them savagely within an inch of their life, before turning them in. I know forgiveness would be my main objective, eventually, but first justice. I would have no qualms about turning vigilante, leaving them scarred for life, least they ever forget the pain they had caused. I would not depend on our judicial system to teach them how to make incarceration a way of life. Guaranteed they would not become a repeat offender. It was a disgusting feeling knowing that could of been my kid.

On Tuesday the boys tutor came for her weekly visit with my boys. As she was leaving, she mentions, "Well they don't know yet if Mickey will be charged as an adult." Mickey is in my sons grade at school. Same age, they both attend some of the special ed classes, and have since kindergarten. Seeing the blank look on my face at this news, the tutor fills me in. Mickey was arrested for attempted murder. He had stabbed the neibor girl twenty times as she slept. The girls mom were out walking with Mickeys mom, they are best friends, when Mickey broke in her bedroom. No one knows why Mickey did this. This is so out of caricature for this angle faced boy. His dad is the town cop. His mom is the most sought after teacher in our elementary. They are not just surface nice but genuinely sincerely good people. Volunteer in the community, active in church. Mickey mom was den leader in scouts all the years our kids were in them. Her husband would help the kids to earn special badges and bring in his patrol car for the boys to see. Mickey was the only one of the pack that would take the time to come over to play with my baby, unlike the rest of the boys. No one can figure out what caused Mickey to do this. The news, without any foundation, speculated it had to be drug related. Other than when his dad gives the Dare presentations, Mikey has never seen a drug in his life. And they want to try him as an adult. It's a disgusting feeling knowing this could have been my kid.

Maybe things will work out for Mikey and he will be placed in the same facillity as the group of boys who raped the handicapped girl. Then what ever happens to him will be considered consensual. Might even learn how to play the system.

I know what Mickey did was not right. I'm not even sure if he made a conscious decision before he acted, he is still in a daze. And it was not lack of morals or responsibility on his part. The other boys, I'm sure had reasons, justifiable or not, that lead them to do what they did. But there was an adult included in their actions. And the mental abitilty to tell them what they were doing was wrong.

I can only hope, our judicial system is smart enough to see a difference.