He came from a middle class home. His parents divorced when he was 12. He lived part of the time with his mom in Georgia, part of the time with his dad in Louisiana. He was a skinny kid with thick glasses, the kind who made an easy target for bullies in school. Kids sense this.
Kids often watch their parents' marriage falls apart and blame themselves.
They wonder what they did wrong. It was another way of saying he wanted The Blessing. He felt that no matter what he did, it wouldn't be enough for his father, who was a successful businessman. At the age of 20, he went to work for an airline company as a mole in the computer department. Benny was an honor student in high school.