When Eugene was ten, a scandal hit the neighborhood. A man who lived across the street from the Petersons caught his son in a sexual interlude with a goat. There were only whispers among Eugene and his friends, but everyone knew the boy’s father tore into him with fury. That night, the boy hung himself. Eugene never forgot the story, always saddened when he remembered the boy’s isolation and shame. Whereas most young men would mock the tragedy or stuff it down inside, the heartbreak of it stoked compassion in Eugene’s young heart.
