Butch Meets A Person Who Had No Conscience

The recent killing of those children and a teacher in Texas was an incomprehensible, senseless act by someone who had no conscience or sense of right and wrong. This terrible tragedy brought back memories of people who I came in contact with when I was a deputy sheriff here in Montgomery County. During my first year, I had to transport a convicted murderer to the courthouse. I asked him why he had shot the victim, who had caught him stealing. He could have just fled the scene, as the man was elderly and unarmed. His response…”What makes the difference? He was old anyway. He would have died in a few years. I can’t see why everyone made such a big deal out of it.” I was stunned. I had never met anyone before who had no conscience. Sad to say, but during my years with the Sheriff’s Department, I met several others like him…two of whom literally got away with murder (but that’s a story for another time).

We all want our kids to grow up to develop a conscience and know right from wrong. Parents with strong moral values can set the standards of compassion, honesty, and courage to stand up for what is right. Kids must learn a sense of purpose, peaceful conflict resolution, and how to serve others. They must be taught that there are certain boundaries. Teachers can play a big part of this development, too. The teachers who I had in school in the 1950s and 1960s certainly demanded that we show kindness and compassion for our classmates.

In addition, our local religious leaders can definitely teach right from wrong. The Ten Commandments are rules that everyone should live by. I attended Sunday school and church as a child, as did the vast majority of youngsters here in the Darlington community. We also attended Vacation Bible School during the summer. Now I will say this…going to church does not necessarily guarantee that a child will grow up to be a good person. Some of the most evil and disgusting people who I ever arrested…went to church every Sunday…and I know many good, compassionate people who never attended church their entire life. But when youngsters attend Sunday school and church, in most instances it can lay the groundwork for knowing right from wrong, develop kindness and compassion, and forge a conscience.

However, as you may know, religion, for the most part, has been removed from our schools, and church attendance is certainly not what it used to be. I have a photo of the boys and girls who attended Vacation Bible School in the summer of 1947, and according to a news article in the Darlington Herald, 110 children, from three churches, attended that summer. Last year (in 2021), even though our town’s population is still around 800 as it was in 1947, only 45 children attended Vacation Bible School.

As a youngster, my favorite movies were “Wizard of Oz” and “National Velvet.” Unfortunately a few kids today have been brought up on…and their minds saturated with violent movies…in addition to violent video games, violent so-called sports like WWE, violent music, and yes…social media. They have become desensitized to violence. Watching Bruce Willis, Matt Damon, Nicholas Cage, and other Hollyowood actors kill hundreds of people in the movies, annihilating people in gory video games, watching “fake athletes” hurt one another, listening to disgusting rap music, and seeing hurtful postings on Facebook can have detrimental psychological effects on anyone. The results are teenagers who have no compassion, no moral compass, and no respect for human life.

Don’t get me wrong…the vast majority of kids today are good, compassionate, and caring individuals who do have a conscience. They do know right from wrong. I see those kids every week at the library. But it’s the small percentage of the ones with no conscience and no sense of right and wrong who we need to help…before it’s too late. And folks, if we don’t help those teenagers and get them on the right path, this country is in for more tragedies like the one in Texas.

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.