Saturday, January 10, 2015

Tales from the Wild Kingdom

If we who walk this planet today are the sum total of everyone who has gone before us and if the death of but one person diminishes us all in some way as John Donne suggested it does, I confess to drawing a blank on what I’m supposed to conclude from the so-called life (so far) of Thomas Gilbert, Jr.

Recognizing the presumption of innocence, it’s hard to not notice the assumption of arrogance and entitlement in a sad and sickening story of patricide. When children are small, they throw themselves on the floor in an emotional outburst about an allowance. 

I’m not sure where in the pantheon of abject self-absorption to place action such as premeditated murder, if that is indeed what this proves to be, by someone who is chronologically an adult, albeit emotionally and ethically stunted though I hope our justice system will sort it out right quick.

The rich, suggested F. Scott Fitzgerald, are not like you and me. To which I can only reply with thank goodness. I’m starting to understand why some animals eat their young. 

-bill kenny

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