I heard this story on CBS Radio last night on my way back from a conference in Albany, just before crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge.  It was one of those news stories that makes you want to plug your ears with your fingers – a 64-year-old Boston pedophilia running an underage sex ring in Thailand, exploiting children as young as four.

Every time I hear about something like this, I ask myself the same question:  How can people who habitually hurt children this way not hurl themselves off bridges?  If you know you’re going to do something like this — if you know the Devil has inhabited your soul — go running to the nearest span and take a leap for the team.  Go out knowing you’re doing something right, something noble. The rest of the world will sincerely appreciate it.

At 64, one would think this Boston man would have had a moment of clarity somewhere along the line — and ample opportunity for a swan dive from the top deck of something.  But that never seems to happen, and I’ve always wondered why.  But how can anyone understand what drives some minority of people to do these terrible things over and over again?

As it is, the Boston pedophile will head off to prison for 25 years, where, in all likelihood, he will wish he had jumped at some point during his prior 64.