Monday, June 18, 2012
Do not hold grudges for more than 50 years.
I do not remember much about what my life was like in high school. High school is starting to be a long time ago and as a general matter I do not dwell on the past much. One guy who dwells on the past is Carl Ericsson, a 73-year-old man living in Madison, South Dakota. As CBS news reports, on Friday Mr. Ericsson was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Norm Johnson in January. Mr. Johnson was one of Mr. Ericsson's high school classmates. Mr. Ericsson, who pleaded guilty, said he killed the classmate because while in high school, the deceased placed a jock strap on Mr. Ericsson's head.
Perhaps a better lesson would be, "don't put a jock strap on that psycho's head."
ReplyDeleteThe problem with your lesson is that in this case it seems to place some responsibility for the murder on the victim. In the abstract I think your proposed lesson is ok. An even better formulation might be "only put jock straps on the heads of people who want jock straps on their heads." Not as snappy but I am sure the advertising department can tighten it up.
ReplyDeleteI agree that my lesson is subservient to the moral command not to murder people. But it's a tough league out there, sports fans. I'm not trying to divvy up blame; I'm trying to help people not get killed. That's pretty much what I'm all about.
ReplyDeleteYou are like a superhero that way.
ReplyDelete