Reality Television

About a week ago, my wife and I were watching a documentary on ABC about this guy in North Carolina who may have stabbed his wife to death. After the incident, he packed up and moved near his family in Sandy, Utah and will not respond to police requests to answer any questions or take a polygraph test. He was also engaged to be married to another girl here in Utah but, after seeing his split personality, she ran for her life.

The whole show was pretty creepy and makes you worry that the case was never investigated to a satisfying end. It's worse that the guy lives in our city.

One of the guys that I work with was a teacher for nearly ten years and he knows many of the people in our profession. When I showed up to work on Monday he was asking me, "Did you see that crime show on TV last weekend about one of our guys (he's in our labor union)?"

I didn't know what he was talking about so I said, "No." But then he retold the story of what had happened in that documentary and asked me if I had gone to school with the suspected killer. He said that he and his wife had watched the show and it bothered them. He told his wife that the guy would probably be at the union Labor Day picnic.

His wife said, "No way. If they did a report on you like that on television would you show your face in public?"

But a couple days later, my coworker and his wife went to the picnic and, sure enough, the suspected killer was there. He recognized the guy I work with and said, "Hey! How's it going!" and shook his hand. It was funny to hear my coworker describe how his wife yelled at him, "I can't believe it! You just shook hands with a MURDERER! How could you do that?"

Later in the day I called my wife to tell her that the guy in the creepy TV murder mystery was in my trade and likely to be a coworker in the near future. She was stunned. I told her, "I actually look forward to meeting the guy so I can treat him like crap and mess with him."

My wife said, "Do you really think it's a good idea to provoke a murderer?"

I said, "The guy is a coward. He spent years of his life convincing this girl that he loves her and that he would do anything for her and that she was the most important thing to him... and then when she wasn't expecting it, he stabbed her. Do you know how easy it would be for you or me to kill the other one? I doubt this guy is quite so brave when faced with someone his own size who doesn't like him. He got away with murder once. It won't happen twice and he has nowhere left to run. He's already living with his parents."

I know there is a minority of guys out there who wish they had the guts to stab their wives who are saying, "Dude, you don't KNOW for a fact that he did it." But there aren't any other suspects and he won't cooperate with police and that's enough reason to treat him like a jerk. So he may not be in jail but it doesn't mean there won't be consequences.

There is also a channel that shows re-runs of the show "SuperNanny." I was flipping through channels one day when my wife pointed out the show and said, "This episode is about a boy that grew up in my neighborhood."

We watched it for a little while and I said, "That would be really embarrassing to be on SuperNanny. Not only do they point out what a horrible parent you are, they also break down your marraige and show you what a jerk you are."

Can you imagine if people from your childhood came up to you and said, "Bro! What's up? I saw you on SuperNanny! Dude... you really need to step up and help your wife around the house. You're a FATHER! Act like it. Welp... see you at the reunion in 10 years."