Attention Grabbing Behaviour

This is a diary of sorts for things which have happened in the past week or so. 8-17 Funny how your life can change in an instant. It's happened before many times but for me today was almost surreal. It started when James, my ex, called me to make sure I had a ride to work. I said I did and he said he hoped Buddah wasn't it. Buddah is a friend of ours, so named due to his physique. I said he wasn't, I was riding along with scorpy, but curiousity got me and I asked why. I wish I never had, but then again I was bound to find out anyway. James dropped a bomb. J: Because Buddah is in jail R: For what (I was thinking, driving too fast, maybe reckless driving...) J: For grabbing a woman's a@# at Walmart R: WHY? J: I don't know I hadn't really expected a good answer, there really isn't a good answer for that. I was still shocked but thought maybe it was a bad joke gone wrong. One that didn't mean any harm on his part but which had offended the wrong person cause as we all know, he had no right. Buddah was always an overgrown child, much as the rest of us in the MYXX are. Some kids don't know what the difference between "ha ha" and "dude that was just wrong" kinda funny actually is sometimes. See, I didn't identify him with another character I'd been following in the news because Buddah was someone I respected. He paid his bills, his child support, took care of his car, took care of his wife and was always there for his buds. The fact that he had a rather off sense of humour and played MTG just a tad too much wasn't really a concern. I trusted him enough to ride alone with him to work and to allow him to take my kids to MTG tournaments.... Oy the shock 8-18 Yesterday I discovered I knew the Walmart Butt Grabber. I'd seen the news for at least a week, some perv was assaulting young children at a few of the local walmarts. Then I was told it was someone I knew and trusted. I thought I knew him well, I guess I really didn't. I'd just ate at his house last week. They always show people that knew criminals when they find them, the press trolls the house and neighbourhood where you here everyone make comments like "I had no idea" or "I thought he was a nice guy" or "He was always so quiet" or...whatever. Nobody ever knows I guess. I never understoood this sort of thing, why people would just say stuff like that after they find out the dirt on someone they know...but now I do know. I know since I know Brian Terrell. At first I didn't realise that there were kids involved, I didn't put the woman and the kids together until yesterday night when the manager told me at work. I'd never suspected him to be a threat to anyone much less a child. He was someone who seemed at peace with himself and the world, happily married, just a little crazy but in a fun way, that sort of thing. Still waters run deep is what my mother always said, never pick on the quiet one cause they always get picked on and never pick back. Until they just blow up, then you're in trouble. I figured that with Brian, if anything happened to his family the world might crash down around him and he might snap, just like Mamma always said. But, this? Of course his wife is devastated and what do you say to someone who has found out that the person you've promised to spend your life with has grabbed kids on the rear? Is there anything adequate you could say? I don't believe you can. Her life once planned is now uncertain, she will have to raise her child alone, something she'd not planned on. She has friends, friends that will be there for her, but I still can't imagine her pain. I'm disappointed, he should have known better. I'm shocked, I mean if he needed help why didn't he tell us, we have people in our Myxx that are certifiable, nobody would have judged him for going to mental health...Not a single one of us would have condemned him for getting help if he'd have asked before he got arrested. I'm angry and hurt. I trusted him and that one girl was eight years old. I was sexually assaulted when I was a child and I'm glad he was caught before he degraded into the kind of sexual abuse I had to suffer. I would that my attacker would have only grabbed my a@#. I'm confused. I'm supposed to hate people that would do such things to children. I don't need people in my life I don't trust. But I don't hate him and I don't know why. 9-19 At work of course the discussion was "buddah the grabber" though some had to read it in the paper the boss provided. His picture looked confused, like he just didn't know what had happened to him, which is kinda the way the rest of us feel. We feel kind of like "what was that all about?" The crux of my problem is that he stopped and grabbed butts and did nothing else. I mean, is that indication that he isn't a pedophile but that he has something else wrong with him? Or is it indication that he was a beginner? Can he be helped if he is? the prognosis on most pedos is really bad. The whole of my emotion tonight can be summed up in my coworkers face when she read the paper. Her eyes got wide, her body went limp, her mouth hung open wide and wordless. Yep that's about right. 8-22 It seems the subject always comes back to Buddah. I wonder if this will be a long term thing or if we will ever get out of our collective shock. I still pray for his soul.