In the news was a story about a missing 10-year-old girl.  The news now tells us that a seventeen year old boy has been arrested in connection to the abduction and murder of that little girl.

The teens mother called the police and he turned himself in.  I know in my head and my soul that was the right thing for her to do, but for the life of me – can not imagine or begin to fathom her pain!

It makes me think of one of my favorite quotes by W.H. Auden

“Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table”.

I then think of the definition of evil. Profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, esp. when regarded as a supernatural force.

Are people who commit murder evil?  Or are they ill?  I’m not talking about self-defense, I’m talking about taking someones life intentionally for no apparent justifiable reason.

Each one of us is capable of murder. But we’re wired to NOT.

So what is happening when there’s nothing in your head, heart or soul that shouts “NO!”  And what must it be like to go through life that way?

I’m not excusing, justifying or siding with murderers, please don’t get me wrong!

But I struggle with this.  If someone is born without the ability to understand right from wrong,  void of the ability to empathize or sympathize and is capable of taking someones life  – aren’t they too victims?  Wired differently – from birth.

It boggles my mind.

When I’m in public, especially a large chain store – I wonder who just smiled at me, who just brushed past me.  I passively interact with hundreds of people, and among them, statistics dictate there MUST be a sampling of child molesters, rapists, murderers …  that man who held the door open for me, does he go home and beat his wife?

I drive to work and see children waiting at various bus stops to go to school and wonder which ones didn’t sleep well the night before due to abuse in the house.

Bullies.  Well, of course I hated them as a child.  But I know now they’re projecting their own pain onto others.

There’s just so much more than meets the eye.  Definitely a topic I probably shouldn’t dwell too much on.  But I am fascinated by human behavior.

What courage it took for that mother to turn her son in.  I don’t know if I could have done that.  I think a part of me would be in such denial – my first instinct would probably be to want to grab my ‘baby’ and run!  Run away with him and try to make him well!

She did the right thing.

My heart aches for that little 10-year-old girl and her family.

My heart aches for the confessed murders family.

But is it wrong that my heart also aches for that 17-year-old who can never undo the life changing horror he committed?