THE TEXT

THE TEXT (Authors note: While it is a known FACT that, in America, to kill a person, using objects such as pipes, wire, noose, gun, or knife, subjects the offender to a normal prison sentence, of 20 years, to life, this leaves the question about whether texting can be considered murder.) I leave this question for readers to decide. The story goes that, when a young gentleman sends a young lady, a text message, saying he wishes her company, on a date, That the young lady responds, most passionately, with the return text "You are NOT a MAN! You dont deserve a WOMAN! Drop dead." While the young man no-longer texted the lady, hoping for her attention, after such pasionate rejection, the problem would be the local "gossip lines". Mostly young ladies (and a FEW, young, men), all of whom begin chatting, about the gentleman, who texted the lady. While the young men refer to the messenger as a homossexual (among other terms), it would seem that the young women were far worse, in their actions. Soon, the young lady begins receiving texts, asking "Are you REALLY, considering going out with that (gentleman)?" When the young woman would, passionately, deny this, then text the young man, saying "Stop telling people that we are dating. You are NOT a MAN!" When the young man was confused, by this, wondering WHY the young woman was texting him, after she has, already, turned him down, he would text her asking "WHO is saying we are dating?" The young woman would, simply, wipe out the message, from her text log. When her friends would say that they were "hearing" that the couple was "going steady", asking the young woman "Why are you dating that (gentleman)?" When the young woman would insist "We are NOT dating." Her friends would say "Thats NOT what we are hearing." The young woman would text the gentleman, saying "If you dont stop telling people that we are dating, I would be glad to kill you, myself. You are NOT a MAN!" Each time the gentleman would text the woman, asking "WHO is saying this?" The young lady would say "Dont deny it. I KNOW it is you." When the young man tried to speak to the girl, in person, she would make a point of screaming "Get AWAY from me, you creep!" Maybe a month later, when the young woman was told there were rumors, that she was pregnant by, and preparing to marry, the gentleman, she sent her harshest text message, to date: "Do this world a favor, you FREAK! Kill yourself, so I wont have to listen to any more rumors, about us being a couple. Freaks, like you, dont deserve to live. Do this world a favor, and KILL yourself." While the gentleman was puzzled, as to why a woman, who would not even answer his own texts, nor speak with him, was accusing him of being less than human, he began to wonder if the world MIGHT be a better place, without him. After all, his world was not like the world of the high school jocks. The guys, who bashed heads, in order to impress girls. He might have LIKED to have been more popular, yet his classmates shunned him, at every opportunity. They just could not stand the fact that the gentleman just wanted to live in peace. With the girls hurtful text message, burning in his soul, the young man came to wonder if the girl was right. If he didn't "fit in", with the "macho" crowd, then this left the question of "Would he fit in, with life, in general?"" What was the point, of living, with never-ending rejections? Rejections, by classmates. Rejections, by girls. What was the point. As the gentleman stared, at the girls message, it had occurred, to him, to ask WHERE her remarks were coming from. When he had asked his fellow classmates, all the boys would say was "jerk.", while the girls taunted him, saying "A REAL MAN would KNOW! If you dont know, then you are NOT a REAL man." With these insults hitting, like bullets, and arrows, the gentleman would make up his mind. If the girl was right, and he had no right to live, then what was the point? When his body was found, the police, and coroner, MIGHT have ruled the death suicide, BUT that was only until the police began searching his e-mail, and text messages, trying to find a REASON, for the action. The problem was that the police found, what even the gentlemans parents had not known about (since they respected their sons privacy). Between the girls frequent messages, telling the gentleman that he was not a man, and those messages, suggesting, very directly, that the world would be a better place, if he just KILLED himself, the police would be left to build a case, against the young lady. When brought in, for questioning, the young lady insisted "I HAD to send those messages. He was telling people that we were a couple, that I was pregnant, and that we were getting married. I HAD to tell him to drop dead! I HAD to." The problem the police had was that, while there were over a dozen messages, to the boy, from the girl, there was almost nothing, in the other direction. When an I.P. officer did a background, on the call history, of both phones, and this showed only two messages, from the boy, both asking where the girl got her information, the girl insisted "I was TOLD that he was making suggestive remarks." When a detective asked "By whom were you told, about these remarks?" The girl would insist "By TRUSTED friends." When the girl refused to give her friends names, the police ended up investigating most of the high school. By the time the case went for prosecution, the police had learned that it wasn't her victim, who was spreading the rumors. It was her "friends". People, whom others overheard asking "What would happen if..." As the rumors spread, they changed from "What if", to "When?" It was the high school gossip lines, which lead to the rumors. Rumors, such as "There is NO way she would consider dating such a whimp, would she?" Then, there was the rumor about "Could you imagine if she got pregnant, by that whimp?" The problem the District Attorneys office would have, with this case, was the fact that there was no "direct" connection, between killer, and victim. Sure, she had told the gentleman that the world would be a better place, without him, but the D.A. had the problem, which faced married couples, on a regular basis. Couples who, during times, of stress, spoke of desires to kill one another. Desires, which, once spoken, and rage vented, never came to pass. Now, there was a case, in which a young woman had suggested, to a gentleman, that the world would be better, if he were DEAD. HOW could the prosecuter put a girl on trial, for venting her emotions, via text messaging? What even the police had not understood was the girls passionate insistence, at not questioning the true source, of the rumors. How could she, simply, decide that it was a spurned suitor? While the D.A. was certain that, if it had been a MAN, who commited this act, that a prison term would be easy to come by, the problem was "How to convict a girl, of killing a boy, via text messaging?" Would a court, or a jury, convict a FEMALE, of such an act? Even if they did, WHAT was the most sentence, that she would receive? Five years? No matter how the D.A. "sliced it", the girl would "walk away", from this, with her whole LIFE ahead of her. Five years, in prison? She would, still, be in her early twenties, upon release. Plenty of time for career, family, and plenty of time, to enjoy life. Her victims life was OVER, finished, gone. Her life would go on. She would have the very happiness, that her victim would be, permanently, DENIED. The District Attorney, the police, and even the victims family, would be left with the question: HO