After the Battle at North Bridge in Concord, while the British retreated and began their march back to Boston, some Massachusetts men found a wounded redcoat left behind. They did a terrible thing: They scalped him and left him to die.
Word about the atrocity reached the British, and along with their bloody exposure to American snipers and to our side's hit and run attacks, the British understandably concluded that they were fighting a new and vicious kind of enemy.
Having kids who are in middle school provides a painful reminder that many children go through a phase of being cruel to others. Working in higher education is a painful reminder that some don't outgrow it.
Observing my own children's experience while watching surprisingly similar conflicts play out among college students who insist that they deserve to be treated like "grown-ups" has been an eye-opener.
