Attacked on bus

Dear Editor,

Last week, my younger sister Mary was attacked on a school bus ride home from Southwest.

A boy in her school beat her with complete lack of compassion for the damage he was doing. Afterwards he choked her, and she spent that evening in a hospital on oxygen.

With a little less luck, it is possible she could have been killed or permanently disabled.

Amazingly, many in the community thought this was completely incredulous. It was.

His parents were known as avid church goers, and yet no one bothered to teach this young man the value of human life.He was under the care of public education, yet we failed to teach him safe ways of dealing with others.

He had a family, but somehow they neglected to teach him even the basics of common morality or human understanding.

Rather than allowing this as an excuse for his actions, this is a condemnation of the way in which he lives.

There are no mitigating circumstances for assaults like this, only circumstances that lead to the crime and what we, as a society, choose to remedy it.

Still hopeful,

Daniel McCarville,

via e-mail