Adults are supposed to set the example for youth. That’s the deal. A good example, that is. Although, when that’s not the case, lessons are possible. Such as:
A 62-year-old Arlington woman was charged with first-degree felony theft for allegedly forging the pastor’s signature on more than $73,000 worth of checks to herself from the Arlington Free Methodist Church, where she was an administrative assistant from early 2000 until February 2008. According to court papers, the woman worked left a teary message for an Arlington police detective admitting she had stolen the money. Detectives said the woman appeared remorseful. She told police she was ready to face the consequences of her actions.
Taking responsibility is an essential lesson. She set a good example by admitting her guilt. But then she bungled it all by telling authorities that she “guessed that Satan had a big part in the theft.” Blaming the Devil? How unoriginal. She told detectives that she used the money for household expenses. She didn’t say what Lucifer spent his portion on.
Lesson: If you aren’t going to come clean, at least come up with something original, like a Twinkied-out Beelzebub has a QVC addiction.
The Dallas Morning News reports that workers at a Texas high school staged fights among troubled students, making them settle their differences with brawls in a steel utility cage inside a boys locker room.
The principal and other employees knew of the practice, according to a school district report. Dallas schools Superintendent Michael Hinojosa confirmed that there were “some things that happened inside of a cage” and called the fights “unacceptable.”
There were some things that happened inside in a cage? That sounds like there was a gerbil mishap in an elementary school classroom. A whistleblower says the principal-sanctioned fights were “gladiator-style entertainment for the staff.”
The former principal, Donald Moten, took the combined toddler/”Fight Club” defense: “Ain’t nothing to comment on. It never did happen. I never put a stop to anything because it never happened.”
You don’t need to have seen the 1999 movie to know one of the more over-worked pop culture phrases being employed here: “The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.”
It never happened. Lesson: Blanket denials make one sound guilty. They tend to bump up against reality at some point. In which case, it’s time to confess that it was, in fact, the Prince of Darkness who demanded to see high school boys beat each other up.
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