i don't understand.

it's good it's not for
me to forgive anyone,
because i couldn't.



today, in the newspaper, beneath the article about the eight-year-old girl who was dug out from under a pile of rocks where she had been buried alive after having been sexually assaulted and beaten, there was another article about the recent sentencing of a local policeman. he had confessed to sexually abusing his stepdaughter (adopted daughter? she was not biologically his child, but she was his daughter, once she's there in your house counting on you you'd better know that she's your daughter) almost every day for about a year, beginning when she was seven years old. seven. he had confessed.

he had confessed.

he was sentenced to parole and a minimum of community service. maybe the jury looked kindly upon the fact that he had only raped her almost every day. maybe they thought the nights off counted as good behavior. maybe they were proud of him for not burying her alive in a dumpster, since we've seen how easy it can be to get carried away and do that sort of thing.

i wanted to reference this story with a bit more detail and accuracy. i tried to find some in-depth information about it, but all i came up with was hundreds of articles about sex crimes committed by the clergy. this story appears to be news, um, not so much.

what are we doing? why are we doing it so wrong?