Personal accountability and BB guns

Frequent commented and Mod-Blog friend BowHunter wrote in to report on a recent unpleasant experience he had with human nature.

At approximately 3pm on Wednesday afternoon the 16th of August, a crime was committed against the House of Bowhunter. The next-door neighbor’s kids shot my wife’s car over 10 times with a high-powered BB gun. The shots shattered the driver’s side rear window and ruined the paint in every other panel on the driver’s side. The mother - who WAS home with the children at the time - claimed to know nothing about it. The kids claimed they had no idea how the damage occurred. The police firearms and K-9 unit were called and the police dog was able to sniff out the guns - the mother had hidden them! She claims to have been “worried about looking guilty.” The cops were busy informing Mrs., Bowhunter and I of our rights in small claims court when the father came home. He saw the situation, and understood hit family was at fault. He offered to pay for the damages. We accepted that offer (with a price tag of well over $1000) and thanked him for his honesty. He then proceeded to search his daughter’s bedroom, (the most likely angle of the shots) and found numerous BBs hidden under the bed. The mother confessed that she knew about the mischief. And the kid confessed that she had done the deed. My car is currently in the shop and will be fixed in a week or so.

As sad a situation as this is, it makes you wonder about where our society is headed. Feeling guilty is a good thing. It forces us to honor the social contract. But psychologists and lawyers make a living off of telling people they are not guilty, and should not feel guilty. Maybe we should fire the “experts” and accept some of the responsibility ourselves.

Personally, I can't help wondering what the mother in this equation was thinking. Was she scared of the father, the police, BowHunter? All of her reactions seem like she is a slave to fear at this point.