Apologize, Jerk

No. 3 on the list of the Top 10 "Don'ts" from the Father's Handbook (unfortunately not handed out at most hospitals upon birth of a newborn) is Don't Be a Jerk. This includes a subordinate commandment that if you are a jerk, don't do it in a way that affects your kid and MOST OF ALL don't do it in front of your kid.

James Willie Jones of Lake Mary, Fla., broke those commandments. Crumpled and mutilated them when he went on his handicapped 13-year-old daughter's school bus one morning and lost all self-control in what in his own mind had been initated as a defense against her bulliers.




Fortunately, Jones has had sense enough to comply with subordinate clause two: If you are a jerk apologize and do all that you can to make it right with the hope that it will somehow show the strength of character you want your child to emulate and be enough for him or her to recover from the trauma. So, Jones has apologized and, hopefully, it will be enough for his daughter who is currently under a suicide watch in a Florida hospital and on her way to a new school when she gets out.