Seeking Larger Meaning in a Meaningless Act

Here's a hint -- you aren't likely to find it. If you hadn't seen the news, yes, a bad thing happened in Oklahoma the other day:

With a motive that's both chilling and simple — to break up the boredom of an Oklahoma summer — three teenagers randomly targeted an Australian collegiate baseball player who was attending school in the U.S. and killed him for fun, prosecutors said Tuesday as they charged two of the boys with murder.

Prosecutor Jason Hicks called the boys "thugs" as he described how Christopher Lane, 22, of Melbourne, was shot once in the back and died along a tree-lined road on Duncan's well-to-do north side. He said the three teens, from the grittier part of town, chose Lane at random and that one of the boys "thinks it's all a joke."

Hicks charged Chancey Allen Luna, 16, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, of Duncan, with first-degree murder. Under Oklahoma law they will be tried as adults. Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, of Duncan, was charged with using a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and with accessory to first-degree murder after the fact. He is considered a youthful offender but will be tried in adult court.

A few observations:

• I've seen plenty of things written about this case already that focus on the race of the alleged shooters. Couldn't care less about that -- this case isn't about the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character.
• This case also has nothing in common with the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. Shooting someone in the back tells you plenty about the intent of the shooter. Despite what some folks believe, there was zero evidence presented at trial that showed George Zimmerman had set out that night to kill someone. These guys apparently did.
• Teenaged boys are often bored. Thankfully, most teenaged boys don't think of murder as a way to break the mood.
• The article has most of the stock notions you'd expect -- the parents protesting that their accused offspring are good kids, the politician calling for gun control, etc. None of it particularly matters. You can be a "good person" 99% of the time, but the act of murder obviates all of your other good deeds.