View From the Bushes

Every morning when I sign on to one of my instant messenger programs, a news window pops up. I generally take a quick look at the stories they've linked to and occasionally I'll pull one up (particularly if it's about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's breakup). Today there was a link to a story about some kids being arrested, so I checked it out. The gist of the story is that two kids in special ed., ages 9 and 10, were arrested for making violent stick-figure drawings depicting them killing a classmate. Here's a copy of the Associated Press's version of the story along with a poll.

There are many things that bother me about this but two stand out: first, the fact that they're being charged with a second-degree felony (making a written threat to kill or harm another person), and second, I have a very hard time imagining that they actually were in the process of planning to harm their classmate. This seems like something fairly harmless that most kids have engaged in at one time or another. And this isn't to say that they shouldn't receive some kind of punishment or that nothing should be done, but a felony??

I could go on ranting for quite a while, but I'm sure you probably already agree with me on this point, or at least I hope you do. In any case, that's it for today. The rest of my life is pretty boring. But rest assured that when it gets interesting, you'll be the first to know.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross