Guilty until proven innocent, or not?

It's disturbing when you find out someone you've known personally or professionally has been accused of committing a vile act. This week it's happened to me.

I've been on vacation back in my beloved North Carolina. I went to visit my friends and former colleagues at The Wilson Daily Times on Monday. It's been 10 months since I've seen some of them and two years since I've seen most of my former colleagues. During my visit to the paper my former editor asked me if I knew a certain English teacher at Wilson Community College. See, I taught history there part time for many years. The teacher in question, and I'll decline to mention his name in my blog, but will link to the article, has been arrested in connection to the rape and molestation of a 12 year old boy in Pennsylvania.

I served on a committee with the accused teacher and never did I think this man had such vileness inside him. Of course, we don't typically think that of any of our friends and neighbors. Oftentimes you'll hear the same old mantra of "he was a quiet neighbor" or some such blather when someone is charged with a heinous crime. But this time it's happened to me.

In this society one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but human nature works the opposite way, one is guilty until proven innocent. It's interesting because just this week I saw the Academy Award nominated film Doubt, about a priest who may or may not have molested a child at the parish school. There were no answers in that film, it was up for the audience to decide the answer. Currently I'm in that same boat regarding the man I knew.

While I certainly hope the charges against the man I know are false, notions of guilt are already slipping into my head. And even if he is proven to be guiltless, his reputation is forever destroyed.