E-mail:
“Rich,I don’t know about you, but I did things when I was a kid that I would never do now, such as shooting birds, woodchucks, etc ffor no good reason down on my Grandparent’s farm. Never bothered me in the least. Could never figure out why Dad, after telling me that he used to do the same thing as a kid, would say, ‘Yeah, I just kinda lost my taste for hunting at some point. I don’t want to hurt them for no reason.’
Well, now I understand. Last summer I had to take care of a woodchuck that had taken up residence under my parent’s deck. It had ‘menaced’ my Mom in the back yard, since she would by virtue of where it’s hole was get between him and his home. I did what I had to do, but didn’t feel good about it. In fact, I felt terrible for weeks.
The same change in attitude applies to so many things. I never was much of a bully, but used to ‘let things happen’ that now a days I would NEVER allow to happen. Somewhere in my late teens I broke away from the herd “impress others” mentality. I think most people do. It’s called growing up.Maybe there is a chemical reason for this, maybe a psychological reason. Maybe adolecent boys can’t immediately deal with the sudden spike in testosterone that comes at that age.
I think that, maybe not for all of them, but certainly for some, those boys will look back on their actions that day and cringe. I bet you at least a few of them, 20 years from now, will remember that day as one of the most shameful days of their lives, the day they burned to death an already mortally wounded man and then danced in the gore.
I hope they do at least.”