Opinion: Faith, Fate and Evil-Terror in New Hampshire

Kimberly Cates was a 42-year-old nurse with a husband and a precious 11-year-old daughter. They lived in a quaint New England hamlet called Mt. Vernon. On October 3, 2009, with her husband out of town on business, she and her daughter went to bed as they had done every night previously. Tonight, however, would not end up like any other night.

Four teenaged boys are under arrest for one of the most terrifying crimes I have seen in my lifetime. Steven Spader, 17, Christopher Gribble, 19, William Marks, 18, and Quinn Glover, 17 , are accused of breaking into the Cates' home, mutilating Kimberly Cates to death with knives and a machete, and then, in an act that defies any type of human thought or emotion, slashing the throat of a sweet, innocent 11 year-old girl. What makes this horror story so terrifying is this: the four allegedly planned to pick a house at random, and kill whoever was home. They planned to end a life, or lives, at random, for no other reason than, well, because they wanted to.

Callers into talk radio all had ideas about how this was preventable. One caller said if they had only been involved with some other types of activities. Two of the four were members of their schools drama clubs. Another caller chimed in with it would not have happened if the boys were involved with the boy scouts. At least one was an eagle scout, another, a boy scout. Another caller states the fact that a church upbringing would have prevented this. One of the teens was preparing to do his Mormon missionary service. Well, maybe, said yet another caller, if there was more discipline in their lives. One was a military cadet. Another caller blamed the parents. One of the boys was undergoing counseling and on anti-depressants.

The fact of the matter is this; there is no way of telling for sure who is a vicious killer and who is just going through a phase of teen-aged awkwardness. The one thing that is for sure is this simple fact; the people who committed this crime are simply evil. That is the undisputable truth. Evil exists in our world. It always has, and, odds are, always will. Even in the Christian bible, evil existed in the most perfect place on earth. It is inescapable. Humanity has two belief mechanisms to help explain, or maybe just deal, with the existence of evil; fate and faith.

Fate is the belief that all of life’s events are somehow pre-determined. While an individual can make choices, in the end, what was meant to be will be. Nothing is capable of changing fate. That is why, the argument goes, someone can fall out of a 10-story building and not get hurt, yet someone else will die from a paper cut.

Faith is the belief that a god, or whatever the person, place or thing that you have faith in, will help you prevail through all. Faith is the reason why people will do things that even they know are foolish, futile, or downright dangerous; logic ceases to exist, faith will get them through.

Kimberly Cates had faith in her security system. Now she is a victim of murder. Her daughter, as of earlier today, is out of intensive care, but will carry the physical scars around her neck for years to come. She will suffer the emotional scars forever, but I think this little girl will somehow make it. After all, at 4:20 a.m., with her throat slashed and a broken leg, she had the wherewithal to call 911 for help. I hope that if I am ever in a crisis that severe, I will be as brave and mature as that little girl. Now excuse me. I have to go lock my windows and doors.