Is all bad behavior due to immorality?
“Order in the court!” croaked the judge as he authoritatively slammed his gavel onto the wooden sound block; as if he were crushing a helpless fly.
The chaotic court room was momentarily silenced as the evidence was hastily ushered up to the front. After snatching the clear plastic evidence bag with his sausage-like fingers, the bulbous eyes of the judge widened.
“What am I looking at?” asked the judge as he continued to examine the crudely spray-painted weapon.
“This is a plastic cap gun, your honor” scowled the prosecutor as he glared intimidatingly at the little boy that sat stone faced next to the judge. “It is a plastic gun that you can find in any local dollar store.”
“I see… and why do you amuse me with this poor excuse of a weapon?” mused the judge as he sank deeper into his leather tufted chair.
“This pathetic boy barged into my client’s convenience store and tried to rob him at gunpoint. He was using that very same weapon you are holding in your hand!” barked the prosecutor. His accusation fired a wave of condemnation that rippled throughout the courtroom.
“And what does the accused have to say for himself?” inquired the judge as he lazily turned his head towards the boy.
The little boy said nothing. His thin lips were clenched tight as he continued to stare blankly at the enraged prosecutor.
This triggered the convenient store owner to snap. “This rat is guilty as charged!” screamed the gangly bald man. “He grew up in the hoods of Harlem!! He has been raised by a single-mother. I reckon he is a gang-banger!”
When the store owner was eventually subdued by the bailiff, the judge proceeded to ask where the child’s mother was.
At the very mention of her name, the stone-faced boy crumpled in an uncontrollable torrent of tears. For he knew that she was on the verge of dying. And he sobbed under the crushing weight of failure he felt for not being able to pay for her next round of chemotherapy.
Many times, we are quick to judge an individual for their apparent bad behavior. But if we were to stop and cross-examine our assumptions, we may be surprised to discover that these crimes against us are sometimes just maladjusted cries for help.
