Nikolas Cruz and Salvador Ramos

Rachel Corn once said that teenage boys cannot be trusted, and their intentions are not pure. Yes, it is mean to say, but sometimes I must agree. It is not generalizing teenage boys to put them in the category of dangerous because during my teenage years, I have encountered many of them who were troubled, silly, kept to themselves and struggled with their academics.

It is the ones I continuously see in the headlines and the mainstream media that match the quote perfectly. I was not born in the 90s, but Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold changed the perspective of teenage boys.

Why do you think they were best friends? Birds of a feather will flock together. They must have sent out a sinister, disturbing, and criminal-like energy within their own. Since that massacre took place in 1999, it seems like the innocence in our young boys is gone.

Nikolas Cruz and Salvador Ramos represent the dark side of teenage boys. I never knew how much alike these two were. If I could create a pie chart comparing these monsters, you would be surprised because the list goes on and on..

They could have been the best of friends despite Nikolas being a part of hate groups. They were known for their violent and aggressive behavior towards their peers.

They were disliked by their peers, sharing terrible stories about them. Their girlfriends feared them. Some behaviors that they exhibited towards their girlfriends reminded me of my father.

I just know that the American people were not that stupid to believe that the verdict would be the favor of the parents. It was never going to happen because change has not happened in this country.

The jury never thought about the victims but more about what Nikolas wanted: the life sentence. As soon as he called for mercy, the jury should have said: NO, YOU ARE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT.

“They did it because he was white,” says my mother after hearing the news. She purses her lips, standing by what she says.“If that were a black boy, it would been different.”

I disagreed with her statement because I do not think she knows that his biological brother, Zachary Cruz is black but that is not the point. The verdict was not about color. It is about how easy it is for society to fall for the villain because of the belief that every antagonist has a history.

Whenever authors want to write a great villain, it would usually include a compelling backstory that explains their motivations and actions. For example, Lotso in Toy Story 3 appeared like a bear that was soft, and you could cuddle him at night, but he had this evil streak. Underneath that demeanor, he was afraid of rejection.

He used to be a beloved toy who was accidentally left by his owner and after going through so much to get back to her, he found out that he was replaced and that made him angry. That anger turned into hatred for new toys.

Why do you think the defense team used his backstory to garner empathy? Everyone goes through stages in their life, and it can either make them or break them. My mother was in an abusive relationship for seventeen years.

In her adolescence, no one fought for her. She only had her children. These past events made her into a strong woman, but it did not turn her into a monster. After everything, the opposing team used against him, it was not enough to wake the jury up. There were things I knew about him and others I did not know he did.

You must understand that it is all about influencing the jury to be on either side: the criminal vs the victims. Lawyers select certain jurors for a reason. We should know this by now when we are summoned for jury duty. If they used that technique for Nikolas, do you not think they would have done the same for Salvador Ramos? He would have had a convincing case for the death penalty if he were still alive. Teenage boys must always be watched. The four of them make me paranoid to have a boy.