If you have not already read Cassandra Favre’s story about a Poplarville boy who struggles with numerous developmental issues, take a minute to do so today. It is worth your time.

The story of how Zarian Phlegm and his disabilities have brought the family together is touching. Zarian’s mother credits the birth of her son as the thing that saved her marriage and holds her family together.

It is a powerful story.

However, the larger story of how Poplarville has come together for the boy is as equally interesting.

High school football isn’t generally thought of as a soft sport.

But it is clear, from the pink leggings the players wear for breast cancer remembrance to the support the team gives a small football fan, these guys aren’t too tough to care.

We don’t mean to say that football has taught the players empathy for others.

Rather, each player’s family, their teachers, their churches and their community have led these young men to care about others.

What they are displaying is character, and no matter what curriculum is introduced by law and no matter how much money the state puts (or does not put) into the schools, there is no excuse for poor character.

Poplarville, of course, is not a unique place around these parts. We are certain the teenagers from Picayune and Carriere and throughout the area are of equally sound character development.

The presence of good band programs, good theater programs, Scouting programs and volunteer efforts is evidence enough of the character of our young people.

And on this bedrock, a solid future will be built.