darren wilson.  tony stewart.  both men have been on my mind this week and not just because i’m in the badlands.  both men are in the news and have had their lives destroyed by events that took place within just a few minutes.  i don’t think either of them are bad men but they will always be known for their bad act.

by all accounts, darren wilson was a perfectly ordinary suburban cop with nary a disciplinary action taken against him. he encountered michael brown on a ferguson street and within minutes he had shot michael dead. rioting, outrage, and possible murder and federal civil rights charges against him.

tony stewart ran over and killed racer kevin hart as hart walked out onto the track to confront stewart. prior to this incident, stewart was known as an aggressive driver but offtrack was considered a teddy bear.

i feel sorry for both men because both will always be thought of as murderers.  they played by the rules most of their lives, well, at least aside from the few minutes of crazytown.  wilson is in hiding with his family.  even if he escapes legal consequences, he’s going to have a permanent crimp in his neck from looking over his shoulder. tony hasn’t raced since the accident and lives for the moment in seclusion.  i can’t imagine him ever having the focus and courage to drive again.

let’Das say you are a professional in a position of trust–like, say, a lawyer or investment advisor–and let’s say you use your client’s money as if it were your personal checking account. do it once, okay, that’s troubling. do it twice, whoa there! do it three times and we get to call you bernie madoff!

.i don’t feel sorry for the madoffs of the world, but i feel sorry for tony and darren.  but i gotta ask–