Teenage drama gone horribly wrong

Yesterday I was left shaking my head again wondering what the world is coming to.

Then, after a few moments of reflection, I realized that yes, there really is nothing new under the sun. The article I was reading outlines an incident that has been seen time and time again throughout the centuries. Only the names, location, and details are different this time.

Still, one has to ask: What the hell is going on here?

Today, the authorities down in Texas are convinced that what was apparent on the face of this is what had actually happened. The Caffey family was virtually wiped out by their sixteen year old daughter, her nineteen year old boyfriend, and a couple of their classmates.

I can understand why the Caffeys had, as they are said to have explained to a family friend, 'little use for' their daughter's boyfriend. One of his classmates stated to the news media that he was argumentative and more than once I've read the implication that he projected a somewhat less than wholesome image.

My question: He's nineteen years old and still in high school? I received an extra year of school up front because I was thought to be shy (later proven time and time again to be not true, I might add. I just didn't have much in common with other five year olds I was surrounded by.) and I was one of the oldest in my class. I turned eighteen the summer before I began my senior year in high school. Did this 'kid' get set back twice?

Of course, not all that much is being said about this crime. Because of her age, young Miss Caffey's full name isn't being released, only that she was found at the home of one of the other conspirators and that she is now in a juvenile facility in an adjacent county, charged with three counts of capital murder and being held on something like a million and a half dollars bond. It may just be heresy, but it has leaked out to the press down there that allegedly this girl had only been enrolled in school for about six weeks. Ostensibly, she had been home schooled before that and the family had lived in the area for about two years.

I've long questioned the ultimate wisdom of home schooling. I know quite a few young people and their parents who are firm believers, and not only are they exceptional students, but their parents are quite dedicated. I know them because they're involved in some of the same organizations that I am. These folks take their children's development and education very seriously. I don't expect too many of those I know to have any difficulties fitting into the world. I seriously question if that's the case with home schooled children whose parents aren't quite as dynamic.

Some parents genuinely believe they can do a better job of educating their kids, and with so many things in this world, if one truly believes they can do something, quite often the can. Others take more of a puritanical view of it and just don't want their children exposed to supposed 'bad influences', which admittedly are in no short supply these days. Have they ever been? If that's all one wants, however, I see some conflicts with reality looming ahead on that trail.

I don't have children, and I may very well never have any, either. If I did, however, I've long known that I would want them enrolled in public school. I'd make the time to follow up with them during the evenings and weekends. I firmly believe, based on my own experiences, that one needs to see and experience all kinds of things, good and bad. If you're going to get along well with people, you need to be around them. All kinds of them. A kid needs to be bullied every now and then, and needs to face other tough situations that are rights of passage. That old adage about smooth seas never making a skillful sailor is seldom more applicable. One learns by doing...and living.

If I would've stayed out at 'the ranch' the whole time while growing up, I wouldn't be able to function anywhere near as well as I do today. I spent a lot of time out there, especially in the summer, but I spent a lot of time figuring out how to fit in and how to deal with all kinds of things I never would've experienced out in the boonies with my parents and siblings.

I wonder just how much impact this girl's home schooling had on her adaptation to a social environment like that of a high school? Hmmmm.....

Her father is still with us, though in pretty poor shape. Not only is his entire family now gone, his home and vehicle have been incinerated and he's hospitalized after being shot five times, once in the head, twice in the back, and twice in the upper torso. Either he's a tough guy or just very lucky. Maybe.

One gun and one knife have been connected to the attack, and I'm wondering just what kind of gun it was. I suspect it was probably a .22 rimfire, though whether that would be a .22 caliber rifle or a .22 pistol or revolver is still a mystery. It obviously was not something with devastating terminal ballistics as Mr. Caffey was able to crawl 300 yards through the woods on his twenty acre lot to reach the neighbors for help. How did these kids get those weapons? Very easily, I'm sure. It takes very little imagination to figure out how a knife could be obtained. Those are ubiquitous. And as far as firearms go, a .22, especially if it was a rifle, is also quite easy. If one wants to buy one, since that's the 'basic' type of rifle, about a hundred bucks will get one as long as the buyer is at least eighteen years of age and can pass the National Instance Check System call to the BATFE.

Otherwise, in a rural area like Texas, just about everyone has one. Quite often, they're heirlooms that have been in the family for generations. If a young person is a 'closet criminal', it's often not too tough to 'borrow' a gun from within the family somewhere. Grandpa, Dad, an uncle, even an aunt in some cases; someone probably has one on a rack in their hallway, in a closet, behind a basement door, or out in the barn or garage that can be pressed into service in short order. Just because they're not entirely desirable for use in the criminal enterprises does not mean that they cannot be used. If it's what one can get their hands on, then it gets used. They turn up in police custody all the time.

Everyone wants to think that crime guns are all Kalashnikov variants, full-auto capable assault rifles and submachineguns, sawed off shotguns, or 9mm pistols. Hardly true at all. A look in any evidence locker will turn up crowbars, ball bats, very antiquated single barrel 'farmer's shotguns' with a rusty brown patina on all metal and a broken stock held together with duct tape, and all other types of curiosities. Crime guns often look entirely unsafe to load and fire. The desperate use whatever they can steal, buy quickly and cheaply, or cobble together. Quite often, it's junk, but even junk sometimes gets the job done for those who are stupid enough to take the risk.

I can't see where any form of legislation is likely to ever stop things like this from happening.

Not that I ever like to be the Monday morning quarterback, but today is in fact Monday. Reading between the lines, I'd speculate that if the Caffeys had maybe not been quite so 'rigid' with their daughter and her boyfriend, they'd still be alive and everyone would be free.

People often become fazed by the violence aspect of these things, which is unfortunate, because it hides a lot of the underlying issues. What if this had involved a poisoning, just an arson in the middle of the night, or sabotage of a vehicle to cause a brake failure? Perhaps if any of those had happened, it might be less likely that people get hung up on the means and concern themselves more with the motive and how that could be headed off in the future when these situations arrive.

Young people do all kinds of irrational things. They lack the experience and judgement to make sound decisions in many cases, and raging hormones can be quite a handicap to clear thinking. These are just facts of life and not a whole lot can be done about them. This has been true for about as long as we've walked this earth.

My suggestion to anyone who is less than enamored with their son's or daughter's new lovely is to suck it up and reach out to them. Remember, you were that age once, weren't you?

Tim Gordon