Losing Perspective

The American Thinker posted an article today with the following headline:

Parents of slain Pizza Hut robber angry that victim used a gun against him

Wow.  I am sorry that Michael Grace Jr., son of Temia Hairston and Michael Grace Sr., was shot during an attempted robbery. But the fact remains that he was shot while committing a crime and possibly endangering someone else’s life.

The article reports:

Hairston and Grace Sr. acknowledged that their son was breaking the law by robbing the business, and said they definitely don’t condone what he did.

“It was an act of desperation, but I do not believe that Michael would have hurt anyone,” said Hairston.

That may be true, but the employee had no way of knowing that Michael would not have hurt anyone, and since Michael was committing a robbery, the employee might have been justifiably concerned for his own safety.

Losing a son is a horrible thing for a parent to go through, but getting angry because he was killed committing a crime does not really make sense. It might make more sense to find a way to help in the community in such a way that fewer children think it is okay to commit crimes.