Attacks on parents of accused shark abusers should stop

Let those with perfect family trees cast the first stone. The hate-filled verbal attacks on the family members of the young men who apparently committed a reprehensible act of animal cruelty are more than ridiculous. What these attacks reveal is the plank in the hater’s eye.

Perhaps they should take care of that plank and forgo passing judgment on others. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that every family has black sheep through no fault of their kin. The reality is that people who do bad things can come from a good family situation, and people who do good things can come from a bad family situation.

We all have free will and are responsible for our own behavior. If the haters believe in guilt by kinship, then they are willing to do penance for the misdeeds of their kin. I am sure that the family members feel sorrow and remorse for the actions of these young men, but the family is not responsible for the behavior of these young men. If anything, the community should be supporting the family while holding the young men fully accountable.

In the recent past, a man in our community murdered his wife, a neighbor and a pastor. I don’t remember a public outcry condemning his family members, nor should there have been. As with most acts of violence, the people closest to the perpetrator become collateral damage and need our compassion and support, not trolling and hatred. We should be better than this.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 9:14 AM with the headline "Attacks on parents of accused shark abusers should stop."