Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Disturbing news

An email sent to me by my niece, Lissa, caused me to tremble in fear. It was an article about Sef Gonzales, the Filipino-Aussie guy who got three guilty verdicts for murdering his parents and sister sometime in 2001. From the article, we see a demented being who lived a life of deception and magnanimous lies, showing an "angelic, smooth, sweet, small, ambitious, a charming friend and an easily smitten lover" on one side while planning to kill his parents first through poisoning, and eventually stabbing them to death out of jealousy, greed, and hate rolled into one. In the article, we see how Mr. Hyde tries to cover up his tracks and even spraying the walls of his house with racial slurs to mislead the investigators. When these started to cramble, he bribes a prostitute to be his alibi and even admitting to a girlfriend that his sexual powers were just sufficient that said prostitute would be on his side for . He had the gall to sing during the eulogy the Mariah Carey/Boys II Men song, "One Sweet Day" a capella which the mourners and the police found to be strange.

What made Sef turn to be this demon is beyond comprehension. He lived with devout Catholic and very affluent parents who tried to give him the best education he can have. And yet, he was threatened to have all the luxuries taken away from him because of his academic failures and liaison with a woman his mother did not approve of.

How do we discipline minors? Should we be strict or should we be lenient? These are the questions plaguing me now that I have been assigned to a new post. How do I sense a troubled child? How shall I address the situation? Will I be helping the child and put him/her to the right path or will I aggravate his/her already battered soul? The questions are as limitless as the answers are. All I can do is pray that I shall have the right answer all the time.

1 comment:

rolly said...

hello again,

I shudder thinking about Sef. Though he has continuously denied having done what he is being accused of, there are a lot of circumstancial evidences to prove otherwise. Whether he did it or not, he is one troubled child. Something we do not want to happen to our children. I shudder coz what he is being charged with albeit unthinkable can happen and has happened before.