I can’t believe we are crossing over mid-November already. Where has this year gone? Why did it go by so fast? I keep getting reminders of the break-in at my Florida house almost every week that remind that August is getting farther and farther in the past.
The victim advocate calls me with every update and sends me apology letters from the kids who broke. So far I’ve gotten three letters. They are very sorry. They don’t know why they broke into my house. They wish they had thought it through at the time. That’s the part I find funny, because almost every person who makes any kind of large mistake wishes they’d thought more about the choices they made leading up to the consequences of the mistake. Now, I don’t generally call crimes mistakes, but I think in the minds of teenage boys roaming in a group, mistakes can also lead up to crimes. Is ti wrong to break into a house that isn’t yours? Of course, and I think a kindergartener would know that. But teenage group think and their underdeveloped brains just isn’t capable of fully thinking things through.
I wrote back to all three, telling them I forgive them and that I hope the rest of their lives will be better and they’ll make better choices now. I thought about my responses for a long time and what I’d like to say to each of them. They all had the same general message of “I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. I am a good kid.” So unless this last kid I haven’t heard from yet was the ringleader, this is a group of boys who never did anything bad but decided that it would be fun to break into a home and take things.
Now, I’ve never done anything like this before, but I have made stupid impulsive decisions prior to reaching full brain development. I still go beyond what is normal sometimes and get overly excited and caught up in things, although it’s really rare now since I left the military. I don’t know why I said too much about someone or got involved in stupid games as a teenager. Or even as an adult. So I’m sure these kids don’t know why they decided this was a good idea. I honestly feel bad for them. They’re facing potentially scary consequences, even as juveniles.
The best letter came from Tommy, whose parents seem to have grabbed ahold of him and started him in a group for people trying to overcome addiction, emotional and behavorial problems, or trouble with the law. His parents are also working with a church to help him start up a community service program. I don’t believe any of these things were his idea alone; I honestly think that his parents are driving the train and getting him on track. Today the victim advocate called me and said the prosecutor was considering dropping his punishment to probation only and what did I think about that. I support it. I think his parents can handle him now. He was kept in detention for three weeks and his parents could only visit him briefly. It seems that this has finally gotten through to him. I hope he is on the road to a better future.
Honestly, I hope they are all on the road to a better future. The letters I got are all great and apologetic. I am hopeful that all four will never commit a single crime again. I hope this stuff doesn’t follow them forever, except in their brains. Let it be what forces them to think twice before they do something dumb.
Yes, I can forgive four dumb kids with too much free time. But it only occurs once. I hope they take my words of wisdom to heart and keep good people close to them, listen to their parents, and actually do the good they say they want to do now.
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