Assaulter vs. Swim Victim -- What It Is to Be 12
I know that twelve is no longer a child. But I haven’t felt it in my gut until two things happened in Stamford in recent weeks. One, a sixth grader, violently beat a Hispanic man so badly he almost lost his eye. Then, sadly, a sixth grader drowned at Cove Island . I guess that, more than anything, shows the betwixt and between of this strange age. How a child, yes, a child, could so assault a man – could want to assault a man – that the victim could almost be blinded, made me I realize how far I have to go, to truly understand this age. Allegedly, this child was in a gang but he was still in sixth grade, my son’s grade. I’ll admit I hurriedly tried to find out what middle school he went to. But, as a friend said, he probably didn’t go to school. Then I thought about the young man who thought he could beat the current at Holly Pond where it flows down over the rocks into Long Island Sound. I could see him, laughing and happy with his friends,...