Sigh.

Yesterday I turned over a leaf: from fourth grade to fifth; seventh to eighth; sixth to seventh...but the homeschooler still has some work to do.  That will be, um, interesting.  We spent the day helping a friend who is turning over a new leaf tomorrow:  girlfriend to wife.  Such an exciting time.

I ran across these articles yesterday and they left me in a pretty black mood.  I was glad to have today to lighten up with.  I'm passing them along, though, because they deserve a wide audience.  Shoving depravity back under its rock does no one any good.  It may even doom someone else to being a victim.

The first story (via Instapundit) is about a high school boy in Florida.  He had an asthma attack at school, but since his inhaler had been confiscated due to his mother not signing a form, the school nurse would not give him that inhaler.  Instead, she locked him in her office and stood outside, watching, as he collapsed.  The school policy is to dial 911 in cases where there is no medicine.  This time, though, no one called.  Not the principal (who was present) and not the nurse.

Think of that. Asthma kills people.  It isn't a joke. And this nurse locked the door and watched this young man struggle to breathe.  I don't care how afraid of a lawsuit a person might be.  I still shudder at such callous disregard for a person's life.

You may have already heard about the student from Long Beach who was accused of and then pled guilty to rape.  (He pled on the advice of his lawyer.) Now that he has been released from prison, his accuser:

• Tried to "friend" him on Facebook, so they could, you know, patch things up;
• Admitted to him that she made up the charges;
• Said she didn't want to tell anyone about this because she didn't want to have to pay back the civil court damages of $1.5 million that her family had won following this young man's conviction.

Prior to his sentencing he was an excellent high school football prospect, with hopes of playing for the NFL (I know, don't they all?).  This young woman showed unbelievable and utterly callous disregard for this destruction she wrought on this young man's life, years and opportunities he will never get back.  Depraved.

I know I should come up with some optimistic line to end on, but I can't.  I guess every so often we have to be reminded of the evil that exists in the world so that we can be on our guard against it.