On my mind

I hate bullies. I hate bullies more than I hate global warming, Republicans, or Roger Clemens. (Wait! He IS a bully!) I have always believed that it's the duty of the bigger to help the smaller, not hurt them. To me, that's even more important than the Golden Rule.

Which is why I can't get Saturday out of my mind.

My friend Tony and I were gossiping about the sad and squirrelly Caylee Anthony case in Florida. I said I thought the mom did something stupid, like leave her daughter in the car while she went to party and the poor tot died in the heat. Or maybe she didn't watch her closely enough in the pool.

Tony said maybe the mom lost her temper and struck her daughter, over and over. He said he could understand how it happened -- that when his now teenaged daughter was a toddler, she argued about everything and once had a loud, angry tantrum right in her exhausted father's face. He said he slapped her hard, on each cheek, while yelling at her. His wife intervened, scooping up the 3 year old and telling her husband to go outside and cool off.

I had no idea this happened, or even that Tony had it in him. I've known him more than half my life, and still I'm shocked.

His daughter seems fine. She has a boyfriend, has been visiting colleges, plays in the band. She and her father clash over how much she owes him for gas and how often she goes over her allotted cell phone minutes, but that doesn't sound serious, does it?

I am trying not to dwell on this, but it keeps coming back. I hope it won't change how I feel about Tony. The incident happened so long ago. But still ...