Where does the fault lie???

Kayden Culp is a special needs boy. Kayden Culp was a regular ten-year-old boy enjoying the outdoors last Sunday, playing, like all the other kids, enjoying his independence, even though he has special needs. Kayden Culp was living his life, minding his own business when other kids, ages 9, 10 and 11, who knew his patterns targeted him, with the intent to light him on fire. The New York Post had the headline: “Special-needs boy set on fire by bullies he thought were friends”

I don’t understand.

My brain cannot comprehend those facts.

I have never, not once in my life thought about causing harm to another living soul. I am sick for days when I think something I said has upset somebody else. I simply cannot fathom where the notion, the desire, and the plotting to see something like this through comes from. It doesn’t compute for me. I don’t understand how an adult, let alone three kids under the age of 12 would ever think to set another living person on fire.

Why?

What has gone wrong in their homes, in their lives, in the parenting of them that they would even consider this sort of act?? When children this young commit crimes of any nature, but certainly heinous, unthinkable crimes such as this, where does the fault lie???

To me there is only one place to focus the attention on in order to figure out why these three kids planned this brutal attack on Kayden, and that is at home. You need to begin with the parents of the other three kids. You simply must. The homes that these three children were raised in need to be examined, and it needs to be determined if the parents of the three young attackers aren’t also in some way, shape or form also at fault. I mean, is it possible for kids to be raised in a healthy, loving, compassionate home and commit this sort of act against a defenseless young boy?

I for one don’t know for certain, but my hunch is, no, it is not. The first place I would begin is with the parents, they should all be investigated. And to be truthful, I’m sure Kayden’s parents aren’t that concerned about who is to blame, as much as they are about why. Why somebody’s kids, kids within their own community would think that it was not only okay to do this to Kayden, but also that it would be fun.

Meanwhile, as I sit here consumed by what happened to Kayden, a ten-year-old boy who has difficultly speaking and hearing, who wanted so much to be a “regular” boy that he regularly hung out with these kids, allowing them to bully him and make fun of him. Longing to simply “fit in”, to have friends and engage in regular kid activities, that has now nearly cost him his life.

And that my friend’s is no fault of Kayden’s. That is without a doubt the fault of the other three kids, who regardless of age, I believe they and their parents should be held accountable for their actions against him. It was predatory, it was premeditated and it was orchestrated without a hitch, and to me those are all signs of sociopathic behavior. If they’re committing these sorts of crimes at age 9, 10 and 11 what will they be doing to fellow humans as adults? Can people who commit these types of calculated crimes at such a young age be rehabilitated?

All things that make me go “hmmm.”

For now I’m going to continue to pray that Kayden survives his ordeal, making a full recovery. I’m also hoping and praying that the story the Washington Post is running saying it was an accident, is accurate. Because no family, no child should have to endure this sort of crime being committed against them for pleasure.