Frontier Justice

Fights...a time-tested example of frontier justice.

Yesterday, the talk over the walkie talkies was about a fight that had just happened. There were about 100 witnesses, but none of the participants in the fight could be found. Lots of blood though. This fight, like many others, took place just off campus. The person who was the former owner of all the blood now spilled onto the pavement is a survivalist-minded sociopath type. What seemed odd was that he apparently never even attempted to defend himself during this fight. He was pummeled. Nose broken...major blood spillage. You know the drill.

Everyone who has dealt with this kid over the years worries that he'll kill someone someday.

So when we heard he was the victim in this fight, our main concern was that he was going to come to school the next day to even the score. He has access to all kinds of weapons...and he likes to talk about them. Needless to say, we were all hyper-vigilant throughout the day. He didn't show up during school, which seemed odd.

Typically, sociopaths are not big on the whole "humiliation in front of their peers" thing.

As I left work that day, I finally saw our victim. He was walking back towards the scene of the fight. As I continued on down the road, I saw that there were about 40 or 50 kids waiting for him.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking right about now - which is why I turned my car around and went back into the building to let the school officer know what I'd just seen. He seemed unconcerned.

Ok...well...at least I had done what I thought I needed to do.

I got back into my car. Drove past the scene again. NO ONE was there. Nada. Zilch. In the space of 10 minutes, all those kiddos had disappeared. Every single last one of them.

Then I figured it out. Our victim had to be seen.

Turns out the reason the fight took place in the first place was that he was rumored to have beat up his own mom. Kids got wind of that...and their designated enforcer had to exact the street's form of frontier justice.

That explains why he didn't fight back. This was all about some twisted sense of right and wrong - the social mores of today disaffected youth. Dare I say it, our sociopath was actually "doing the right thing" by standing there and taking his public flogging.

Going back, all bruised and broken, to the scene of the crime was somehow an example of honor. Even he knew when even he had crossed the line. His return for a public viewing was their way of bringing closure to the whole event. He was the proverbial wounded warrior returning home.

Good grief. It's nauseating.