Do things come in 3's?

Last week was disturbing for me. One night I'm listening to the news on TV while I'm running around the house doing chores when I hear the name of one of my former students, but I missed the video that went with it. The next morning I found the video online and there was the face I once knew a few years ago. I saw footage of him being led into a police car, handcuffed. I saw him mouth the words he didn't do it, but I don't know if it's true -- was he one of the guys to rape that girl in Richmond.

I made a reference to it on Facebook, and it seemed to touch a nerve with a few people. Thanks to those with the kind words in response to me commenting that I felt like I failed him, even though I know there was nothing I could have done.

Two of the comments, though, were former students of mine who thought I was speaking of a different former student who was driving a getaway car in a murder. What the hell?!? Another of my former students was arrested on the news in the same week. They gave me some info, and I have to admit that I really didn't know him well, especially since he was here when I was just a rookie teacher, but the situation made me pause... what is wrong with the world today? Many of us have openly wondered this and no one has yet or ever will be given a satisfactory answer. But the last thought I kept lingering on was this... is there a 3rd former student of mine out there who has just recently been arrested? Is this one of those things that can come in 3's?

When I teach my students about symbols and the power of certain words, images, numbers, I continually remind them how often certain numbers resonate in literature -- and 3 is one of the more significant ones. It was even the answer to one of the questions on my mythology test when I asked which set of siblings was not a set of 3 (Fates, Furies, Graces, Cyclopes, 100-handed Giants, and Muses).

So now I just hope I don't hear about another student and that too much time has passed for the power of 3 (why do I feel like I'm in my living room and Sheena is watching a Charmed marathon? and now she's hooked on Eastwick).