There is generally plenty to do when one is bored. Reading books, watching movies, or getting online come to mind. However, for six Ohio teenagers, the usual options were not enough, apparently. Instead, they chose to beat 45-year-old Pat Mahaney so badly that he spent days in a hospital, simply because they were “bored and looking for something to do,” 19Action News reports.

Three of the six teens pled guilty to felony assault as part of a plea deal that allowed them to be released from aggravated riot charges. It also means that there will be no serious youth offenders statute on their records. The other three teens will have pre- trial hearings later this month or next month. An investigation will be the determinant of how much restitution the teens will pay for Mahaney’s medical bills.





This assault is absolutely appalling, if for its reason alone. Something is terribly wrong when we live in a culture where our youth believe, even for a second, that violence is the answer to boredom or anything else. We can blame video games, or we can say they are just bad kids. But, at the end of the day, placing blame does not solve the issue. This is about a culture where violence is acceptable, even the norm, and impressionable kids are growing up in such a culture. It is also about parenting, and raising your kids to know that this kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

Now, not being a parent, and having zero desire to become one any time soon, means that my opinion probably doesn’t hold as much weight when it comes to something like this. I don’t know what could have been done to make these teens stop and think about what they were about to do all because they were bored. And now? They have felony records, and an innocent man is stuck with injuries and a traumatic experience that will last a lifetime.