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They’re back.

I saw them when I drove into the parking lot of the Fayette County Courthouse.

I’m talking about geese. Every once in a while they show up at the courthouse and take up residence. For some reason they like this place.

I’m beginning to figure out why.

Geese don’t think about anything but themselves. I had to stop my car and wait while thirteen of them waddled across the road. They showed me no courtesy. None at all. My need to drive into the lot and go to work didn’t matter to them. All they cared about was their stroll from one curb to the other.

And then I realized why they feel so at home here.

They are just like so many of the criminal defendants that frequent this place.

Like drunk drivers. They are in court because they didn’t care if they killed another motorist. At a time when they were unsafe to themselves and everyone else on the road, they drove anyway.

Like burglars. They are here because they completely disregarded the sanctity of another person’s property. They didn’t wait for an invitation to visit. They just broke into a place where they had no right to be and stole stuff.

Like drug dealers. They wanted money and they didn’t care how permanently they ruined the lives of their customers who bought the drugs. The careers they destroy, the families they break up, the hopes and dreams that they crush—they don’t matter at all to the drug dealers.

Like domestic violence offenders. The dignity of the loved ones they abuse means nothing to them. It is more important that everyone knows who is boss.

With all these self-centered criminals around here, the geese may just settle in forever.

You know what they say about “birds of a feather.”