1. Do you know what an effete snob is?
2. Who does the “We” represent in statement number 1
it appears to me that this was written by ONE
person who believes that speaking for an imaginary
“We” is a liberty afforded us under the guise of
freedom of speech. I suppose I could request the
a copy of the petition that all of the “we” may
have signed asking you to share this “collective”
opinion.
3. Please do tell the facts of all of the
vacations sams grandparents have taken.
Better yet provide photographs to substantiate
this statement.
4. What was said between the coach and sam prior
to this altercation. Did the coach put his
hands on the kid?

I do not pretend to know the answer to these questions. But I do know that every morning i witness the behavior of a group of benjamin students, as we seem to go to the same bagel shop daily. These kids show no better manners, or behavior than any other child their ages. They let doors close in the face of others as if the person behind them does not even exist. They leave huge messes on the table tops, some of them do not bother to throw away their own trash. They are no better than any other student from any other school. They are not supermodels of appropriate social behavior. Do not get me wrong, I am sure that there are exceptions, but then there are exceptions i every other school. So in my own opinion, let us not convict anyone in the court of public opinion. Let the court’s sort it out. See Benjamin for what it is, Just another School. The TRUTH will come out in court, it is not my job or anyone elses here to Claim to know the entire story and then pass judgement.

Signed Misguided
#1 Ghetto Street
Nopedigree Fl.

1. We want the Benjamin School to represent the BEST in Florida. That is, the best morals, behavior, sportsmanship. Yes, I was at the game, and yes, I saw Sam Faria brutally beat Coach Flynn. What is this nonsense about a “fight or flight” response? The 17 year old is NOT a “child”, and should not be behaving like a wild animal fueled by some adrenaline-driven “fight or flight”. It is a sad failing not to have ANY self-control. But does grandma ask Sam to take responsibility? Listen to what she said…
2. “He’s a fine, upstanding person who’s very compassionate…” (Right. Compare that to his statement days after the event…”I’m glad I broke that nose”)
3. “He (Sam) didn’t deserve this.” Really? This happened to Sam? No, you got that backwards, granny. Sam is the problem, not the victim. If he thought he was being “mistreated” by these great coaches, then what could he do…let’s see, 11 years of Benjamin education and he can’t figure that out…
4. According to granny, Sam’s mother never threatened a lawsuit. Granny is wrong there. As will come out in court, Wnedy not only threatened a lawsuit, she threatened to give a videotape that she has of Sam beating the coach to show on the ten oclock news. How this was supposed to help Sam’s case is not too clear.
5. According to granny, “We don’t have any…money to donate.” In fact, granny and Sam’s grand pa who is a retired pilot could each provide substantial support to the school. I’m not saying that they do. I’m simply saying that they could have demonstrated reponsibility and generosity to Sam by helping with his tuition (rather than letting those of us who scrimp to afford a full tuition pick up the scholarship aid for Sam). They could have cut back on their vacations in Europe maybe. They could have spent time with Sam in Florida modeling responsible adult behavior while his mother is away working. But deos granny step forward to own any of this?…you see my point.
6. Finally, and most laughable of all, granny says that “Sam’s mother believed he needed a small school where people would take care of him while she flew.” What an amazing thing to admit: Sam’s family wants the school to take on part of the role that they, as a family needed to play in Sam’s life. Why on earth should Coach Ream come in to bail Sam out? Last I knew, planes fly both to and from China–any reason that Sam’s mom couldn’t explain that she had a family crisis and get on the next plane back? Instead, she wnet on to Japan and let the Benjamin School pick up the pieces for her. Why be gone five or six days? Any reason the retired granny can’t come down here and look after her grandson? Responsibility, folks. Don’t blame us for bringing up scholarships, Hispanic heritage, absentee fathers, working mothers or absentee grandparents. They were all excuses that the grandma brought forward to explain Sam’s gruesome behavior. As excuses, they may reflect on her and her family’s values, but they don’t hold water for excusing Sam Faria’s behavior.
7. Let Benjamin be the great school it can be. Let Coach Ream, the hard-working, respectful, self-controlled football players and the teachers and administrators of teh school get on with their jobs, and let Sam make a better life for himself outside of Benjamin School.

2. What ever happened to innocent until convicted guilty?

3. What value in this case, to either side do the racist comments have?

4. Does it hurt your pride to know that this child’s mother actually holds a full time job? Yet alone one that holds prestige and a good salary?

5. We are born with a fight or flight instinct. Was this boy placed in a position where that instinct had to be called upon?

7.I do believe that no matter what you might think or say… the truths of this incident will come out in the courts. In court legitimate witnesses will take the stand. Facts will be brought to the surface and the matter will be resolved. Until then, let us not judge anyone in this matter.

8. I do have to agree with the fact that football is a violent sport. The thinking of do whatever you have to do to win the play, to win the game. Take this guy out, take that guy out….. violence begets violence. Golf, tennis, track and field, baseball, etc seem to not have the high incidence of violence that this game has.. maybe ALL SCHOOLS should reconsider their sports progams and eliminate the games of violence…boxing, football etc.

Sure, there may be reasons for that (father ran out, mother’s career, etc.) but the bottom line is the same.

Maybe the mother didn’t want to leave job as an airline pilot to be around her family because she wanted to advance her career. Maybe she couldn’t leave because there were no other jobs where she could support her family. In the end, it doesn’t matter.

Faria is 17, months away from being an adult. He is responsible for his own actions and their consequences.

In today’s society, half of all marriages end in divorce. You can go through several areas of South Florida and see a number of kids without fathers living in abject poverty. That doesn’t excuse Faria’s behavior.

Now onto Beachbum’s point. Faria is not Charles Manson. Unless he’s had prior run-ins with law, he probably shouldn’t be thrown in jail. But he should face charges for assault and given a sentence that matches the first-time charge for a juvenile.

I’ve spent some time in the military and have seen a number of kids like Faria (and some much worse) that entered and went onto successful careers both in the service and after leaving the service. I attended law school with an individual that had a grand theft conviction as a juvenile. But the one thing that every one of them had in common was that at some point in their lives, they were held accountable for their actions.

What does NOT help Faria is for family, friends and educators to make excuses for his behavior (e.g., “but a coach pulled his jersey”, “he doesn’t have a father” etc.). I’m sure his mom feels some level of guilt for working half way around the world while her son is having problems or for not having been able to have a male role model for her son to follow. But she shouldn’t let that guilt interfere with the need to hold her son accountable for his actions. He’s now a young man.

Maybe it’s not a bad thing that the press picked up on this story. If all those around him are making excuses for Faria’s behavior, perhaps the negative media attention have helped Faria learn that he is responsible for his actions.

And if Faria is reading these blogs, consider this a learning experience. In many ways you’re fortunate. You’re learning this lesson before you turn 18. The coach you beat up will ultimately be OK, which might not have been the case if you had landed a lucky punch to the temples that could have killed him. If that had happened, you’d be going to jail for a long time.

You’ll be able to get on with your life and eventually this will all pass. People will forget it and it’s something that will only be brought up at future reunions, when the conversation will go something this:

“Man, I remember that. I can’t believe that you actually did that.” And you’re response will be something like, “Yeah, I was real a dumba** when I was kid sometimes. Hey, so speaking of kids, how are yours these days?”