How must it feel to be Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein? Slobodan Milosevic? How must it feel to dwell in a protected place or hide behind a powerful position and plan the cruel murder of innocent people?

It probably feels much the same as being the school-yard bully, the wife batterer, the child abuser.

In fact, maybe it feels exactly the way a 21-year-old Jackson man felt when he reportedly beat a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl who had been left in his care on Wednesday.

The little boy died Friday, his injuries including severe head injuries, broken ribs and internal injuries. His small sister remains in the hospital in critical condition. So far the only description of her injuries are &8220;bruises on her face.&8221;

The man has been arrested. Now police reports indicate he beat the boy because &8220;the child soiled himself.&8221; No reason for the beating of the 2-year-old has been released.

In the same Jackson apartment complex on the same day, another man beat his own small child. One report identifies the child as 5 years old; another, as 2. The mother told police the father grabbed the little boy and began beating him with a belt as she and her husband were arguing with one another.

Cruelty exists in nature. Find it in the unexpected freeze that catches small creatures unawares, the nestlings left without a parent, the chicks taken as dinner by the hawk, the small fish gobbled by the larger one.

Among human beings, however, a cruel act is by its very definition an inhuman, inhumane deed.

A cruel person is &8220;disposed to inflict pain or suffering; devoid of humane feelings,&8221; the dictionary says.

Great thinkers have opined on cruelty, concluding that war can be cruel, as can love and death and gossip.

In the 17th century, the Frenchman Moliere said, &8220;Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.&8221;

Maybe there is something to consider in those words. Maybe doubts are in order before one leaves children in another’s care. And the truth is that not everyone should be a parent, as certainly the man should not be who beat his innocent little boy with a belt.

The 19th-century writer Robert Louis Stevenson said, &8220;The cruelest lies are often told in silence,&8221; words plump with possibilities. Silence, in fact, may deter appropriate child advocates from providing protection from such people as the two men involved in the recent incidents.

The cruel truth told in Jackson police reports in the past few days begs the questions, why do adults beat helpless children and what can be done to stop it.

Psychiatrists and psychologists offer many explanations of the cruel person &045; the bully, the animal abuser, even the suicide bomber.

Their actions may vary in magnitude, but their intentions have a commonality.

The cruelty shown in these recent episodes leave scars not only on the tiny bodies that were harmed but also on the hearts and minds of those who read about it and wonder what can be done to prevent other such horrid acts.

The sad truth, the cruel truth, is that very little can be done unless perpetrators of these crimes are caught in their actions and then receive severe punishment. For sure, judges and juries must find that &8220;sorry&8221; is unacceptable as an utterance from the perpetrator. However, it is a word that describes very well a child beater and his ilk.

Joan Gandy

, community editor of The Democrat, can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail at

joan.gandy@natchezdemocrat.com

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