Do you know why some people are evil⢠Do they make a conscious decision to be bad or does it come naturallyâ¢
In an ugly incident in Lawrenceville, it really doesn't matter. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Evil is as evil does."
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported last week that several teen-age boys began attacking adults and children as school let out. Some of the news reports indicated the group had hoped to kill an eighth-grader in a dispute involving a girl.
Children as young as first-graders, as well as school personnel, were savaged. Fortunately, no one died. There were several arrests.
Our judicial system will decide if the defendants are guilty.
What kind of person attacks children coming home from grade school⢠For that matter, what kind of person tries to kill an eighth-grader⢠Yeah, I know this kind of stuff happens all too frequently in our world these days. And yet …
This story really got to me. Little kids walking home from our neighborhood schools now run the risk of being attacked and possibly killed⢠Even first-graders aren't safe anymore. Who would want to raise children in a place like this?
If the amoral and gutless sociopaths who targeted the children and adults had used guns in their brief reign of terror, you would've heard our local well-intentioned fools screeching about stricter gun control laws. (To protect the children, of course.)
Have you noticed a very curious aspect of this sick little episode⢠Where is the outrage from parents, community groups and the media⢠Wouldn't you have thought this story would have gotten more attention than it didâ¢
Have you seen protesting parents screaming that something should be done about this⢠Has Pittsburgh City Council even offered some empty gesture condemning this atrocity the way it recently did about the persecution of a religious group in China⢠Has any television station scheduled a community forum about this near Butler or 40th streetsâ¢
Is it my imagination or was there more public outcry about a controversial sex-ed class in the North Allegheny School District?
Has this once-great city almost become numb to a certain level of violence, even if it targets children⢠Has evil become an accepted part of the urban living experience⢠Or are some in such deep denial that they believe evil doesn't exist?
Maybe this will be a wake-up call for those who naively believe guns — and not those who misuse them — are evil. Maybe they'll finally accept the painfully obvious truth that evil people — and not their inanimate objects — must be controlled.
No doubt the authorities will make sure the perpetrators are held legally accountable for their animal-like behavior. And, hopefully, they will be tried as adults to send a message to anyone else thinking of brutalizing a child.
You have to wonder if any Pittsburghers will try holding them morally accountable, as well. So far at least, the silence has been deafening.
Unspeakable evil cries out for condemnation.
