Water under the bridge
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About nine years ago the town of Jonesboro, Arkansas (which is about 120 miles Northwest of Little Rock, for those who aren’t up on their geometry) experienced what will forever be known as the Westside Shooting. It’s a story we’re all too familiar with: two 12- or 13-year old kids walked into Westside High School and started shooting. The short version is that several kids were killed and the two boys were convicted, sentenced, and jailed.
Recently one of these young men finished his sentence and has been released.
Today one of the Jonesboro area newspapers has a survey on their website that asks the question, “Would you want these two living in your neighborhood?” The possible answers are “Yes”, “no”, and “I don’t know”. Also, Jonesboro’s ABC-tv affilliate ran an interview with the kid who was released and their comments, along with those of an attorney and a sherriff they interviewed, made it sould as though they want the kid to hang because, even though he’s served the sentence given him by the State, he’s not crying and throwing himself at the interviewers feet saying, “I’m a horrible person and I don’t deserve to live.”
Many people from Arkansas have told me that their home was “the buckle of the Bible Belt”. If that is, in fact, the case, then I have to ask what bible they’re talking about. The one that I read talks about forgivness and doesn’t list any circumstances where there can be an exception made. It’s all about “turn the other cheek”, “love thine enemy” and so forth. In fact, one of Jesus’s disciples was a known thief and he was not only forgiven, he was put in charge of the treasury!
Look, the kid was 13 years old when he commited this crime. Since then he’s been in the state prison system, which is going to make anyone seem a bit callous after nine years, and I’m sure that, at this point, he just wants to put it all behind him and retain at least a little bit of self-respect in the bargain. Yes, what he was convicted of was horrible, but hounding him for the rest of his life isn’t going to bring any of those school kids back to life.
It is my opinion that these people who claim to live in “the buckle of the Bible Belt” should follow he lessons taught in that Book they’re so proud to claim as well as (to paraphrase one of my favorite Disney characters) put their behinds in the past.
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