Current mood:
uncomfortable
uncomfortableWhen I was a kid I attended a day care that was down the street. The couple that owned/ ran the day care were great human beings. They were good to the kids, and progressive for the times. Both of them treated me very good despite me not being very good at times. They were an older couple when I attended their day care, and have since passed away.
This story however reguards their grandson. To put it nicely, he was a total dick. He went wherever he wanted to on the grounds. That meant any classroom. He was nasty to the teachers, treated most of the kids like garbage, was bossy and was a pure scumbag. He cursed at his Mom and the owners (his Grandparents.) I've never seen a kid so spoiled. If you ever read the Harry Potter series of books, you know how Dudley Dursley (Harry's cousin) was given tons of presents for his birthday, and it was never enough. The boys of his age group (that includes me) would celebrate his "surprise" birthday every year. He would open his gifts in front of us. From what I could figure he recieved about $500.00 in wrapped gifts, and that was in 1985. Adjust for inflation, and that's just a staggering amount. Now, most of the kids that attended this day care were poor to very poor. I was one of the few middle class students. So while his flaunting of things didn't really impress me, I'm sure it felt like a slap in the face to a lot of the kids. On two different birthdays, he received a three wheeler, and a four wheeler. I'm not talking anything cheap, I mean a full sized gas powered monster that he ran all over the place. In fact, he once ran over a girl, and hurt her pretty good. That was the one time I called him out for being a dick. You know what I got for it. He threw a baseball at me as hard as he could, and hit me in the stomach with it. The teacher (who I really liked) was mad, but she knew she couldn't do anything.
When most novelists write a book, there's a plot, but there is generally a bigger, underlying theme. In the novel Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein makes a monster, but is unable to control him. I often think the underlying theme of the book is the choices you make as a parent affect the way your children turn out. In other words, as a parent, you make your own monster. The way this kid was allowed to behave, act, and treat others was ultimately responsible for the way he turned out.
Now that's not to say they didn't try to help him. I found out later that he saw all types of doctors. He was on Ritalin, which I don't think helped him that much. But it was one of the few drugs at that time. This was years before all the modern mental health drugs that are now on the market. Back then, they hadn't been invented yet. I think if had access to all the modern drugs that have since been invented, the docters might have been able to find one to help him.
Well, as I was surfing the web one day I dropped by the county's arrest report. I admit I check it every now and then to see if there's anyone I know doing something that they shouldn't. I happened to think of him, and put his name into the computer. Five hits. Five arrests within two months, all in the summer of 2006. It was just a repeated mix of domestic violence, cocaine, pot, alcohol, and driving under the influence. They finally stuck him in jail to keep him from breaking the law.
Well, my lawyer showed me the county clerk's record website today. It has much more detailed information to see what happened after people's arrest. I put his name, and found something disturbing. It seems on the last line (it's recorded in a timeline fashion) his lawyer sent a letter in December of 2007 to the judge requesting that probation be dismissed do to the death of the defendant. I thought, "What? Wait, he's dead? How?" After checking the online newspaper records, I found very vague information that he was killed in an automobile accident. I don't know if he was under the influence, not wearing a seatbelt or what.
I'd always wondered what I would do if I ever met this guy walking down the street. He'd made my life a living hell for so many years. He was one of the most selfish people I have ever met in my life. Yet, now that he's dead I don't feel any joy. I'm almost disappointed. Maybe it's cruel and politically incorrect of me to say, but I think I can understand what the parents of a murdered child feel when they execute the killer who killed their child. They always say the same thing. "I thought I would feel relief, or happiness, but I don't. Nothing has changed." Well I don't feel relief, and I don't feel happiness. Truthfully, nothing has changed. The one thing I do feel is emptyness, and I don't know why. I think the world is a better place without him. Times like these I wished I believed in Hell, because I know for certain that he would be there.
This kid was born with some mental disablities, and a family that helped create him into a monster. I always thought that having a rich family could overcome anything in life.. However, I wonder if it worked against him by feeding his selfishness. I think back to Frankenstein's monster. In the end they both died.
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