Rich kids around the world tend to have a superiority complex thinking that money makes them better than those without. By virtue of that money, the privileged have opportunities others do not. Access to better school, better clothing and even better food produces superior education and superior physical condition. Still, it does not make for a better person.
Sometime a set of circumstances arise that alter or temper that belief in superiority. It can be personal tragedy, the loss of a loved one or friend. It can be the loss of wealth and social status through financial mismanagement or as a result fraud. Or it can be by a lucky choice.
Slater Monroe was 10, already handsome with sandy brown hair and gray eyes, the scion of the Monroe family of Boston, Massachusetts when he witnessed his tragedy. No one died or was even seriously injured but his friend, also 10, was very thoroughly pummeled by three older boys and when Slater tried to interfere, he was rendered unconscious with a single elbow to the temple. He didn't even get in a punch.
His father, a senior partner at a prominent Boston law firm chastised him for attempting to involve himself in a matter 'concerning poor people'. He was told that was the job of the police. The boy tried to explain that there had been no police in the area and that the victim was his friend. To his father, none of that mattered.
"If they wish to brawl in the gutter, let them," his father said. "It is no concern of yours."
It was a small thing, a chance comment by a parent but to the ten year-old still innocent enough to be unaware of the power of money, it was just wrong.
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"Why do you want to take up the martial arts?" the elder Monroe asked his 11 year-old son. "Why not football or baseball?"
"I do not care for team sports, father," the boy replied. "Nor does tennis or golf interest me."
"I suppose you need some method of keeping fit, very well."
"The martial arts is NOT about beating people up, it is about defending yourself," the instructor said on the first day of class. "It is NOT about fighting but about control. If you expect to advance you must understand that discipline as more important than power or strength. If you cannot or will not embrace this side of martial arts, you have no place in this class."
Discipline saved Slater Monroe from killing.
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The fall should have killed him. It would have killed him, in fact, if he had been anyone else. His father had planned to spend a month at the lodge they owned in Vermont but an 'important' case had come up and he had insisted that his wife and son go on without him. Thirteen year-old Slater was anxious to get out of the city having discovered the previous year the excitement of mountain bikes. His mother, also ready to relax away from her near constant social obligations readily agreed and by afternoon they had arrived and unpacked.
Before dawn the next morning, Slater had eaten, packed a lunch and set out on his new bike. Shadow hid the chasm until he shot out off the edge. It was just slightly too wide to jump at his speed and as he saw the stone of the opposite bank loom up over the front tire of his bike he had just enough time to suck in a breath of shock before he struck. The bikes rim collapsed, forcing the forks back and down causing the cycle to pivot forward, throwing the boy head first into the wall. His helmet prevented instant death by protecting his skull but the shock transferred to his spine. He heard the pop of bone and felt the instantaneous burst of pain before the world went black.
