It is a test, and it’s our response that’s being graded.

Sometimes unabashed evil gets in our faces, or in this case, jumps off the page to taunt us. When that happens, it’s our reaction that will be weighed, measure for measure.

A story Tuesday in the Dallas Morning News about a Texarkana man and his cousin is an example. It was a jailhouse interview with Demarius Cummings and James Broadnax, both 19, about their arrests here for the robbery and killing of two Garland, Texas, men.

Cummings exhibited a bit of regret and compassion. The same could not be said...