I can't understand how the boy wound up a criminal...

...with tough-love grandparents like these.

UPDATE AND MEA CULPA: Before we continue: this post is proof that (a) I'm not nearly such a nice guy as many of you seem to think, and (b) if I want to keep the nice-guy illusion alive then I need to not post at 2:00 a.m. when cranky from overwork.

My points were valid. But piling on the grandparents in this situation...not cool. Some things, even when true, ought to be left unsaid.

I'm leaving the post up as a sort of confession: I really was enough of a jerk to post this thing.

Carrying on with my original bile...

I mean, you have to read that to believe it: two armed robbers are shot by a 71-year-old customer whom they tried to bully into the bathroom because (a) he looked old and non-threatening, (b) they didn't know he was an ex-Marine, (c) they didn't know he had a permit to pack concealed heat, and (d) sometimes Fate actually sees to it that people get what's rightfully comin' to 'em. So, Rosa Jones, your grandson is an armed robber -- pretty much a complete loss to society, and in fact worse than that, since dead people don't contribute to society but they at least don't actively go out and attack it. So, Miz Rosa, what apology do you have to offer for your family's failure to raise the boy in such a way as to keep him from being a menace to society?

"He should not have taken the law into his own hands."

Well, yes, your boy certainly shouldn't have been running around pointing guns at people like he was a cop or something, but "taking the law into one's own hands" is an odd way to describe the act of robbing a Subway...oh, wait a minute, you mean the Marine was being a bad boy?

Oh.

I see.

Well, women do tend notoriously to lose their sense of perspective and justice when their kids and grandkids are involved; so let's chivalrously put her reaction down to grandmotherly partisanship. What about you, Grandpa Ivory? How do you feel about the fact that your grandson went and got himself shot, and that he richly, oh so richly deserved what he got?

"I don't condone what they [the grandson and his now-dead co-robber] did..." Ah, there we go. -- Oh, wait a minute...No, no, wait, Mr. Jones, don't keep going! Stop while you're ahead...[sigh] too late. He's gonna keep talkin': "...I definitely don't condone the news people making him out to seem like they're making a hero out of this man because he shot somebody down."

Guess what, Mr. Jones? Somebody needed to shoot your grandson down before he killed some innocent person. Mr. Lovell stepped forward and did what needed to be done. My verdict? Hero. In spades.

And your reaction, Mr. Jones, and yours, Miz Rosa, say a lot about how your boy came to be the way he is today, I suspect. Every time he got into trouble before now, I wonder whose fault you tried to make it out to be?

One perceives a certain difference between the Joneses' reaction to their own grandson's sociopathy, and the South Korean community's response to the Virginia Tech shooting:

When the citizenship of the shooter became known, South Koreans expressed shock and a sense of public shame, while the South Korean Cabinet convened an emergency meeting to consider possible ramifications. A candlelight vigil was held outside the Embassy of the United States in Seoul. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed his deepest condolences. South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. and several Korean American religious leaders called on Korean Americans to participate in a 32-day fast, one day for each victim, for repentance.

[sigh]

I certainly don't hold the South Korean Cabinet responsible for the actions of Seung-Hui Cho, but my goodness, don't you think the grandparents of an armed robber, even if they can't bring themselves to express public shame at their kid's behavior, ought at least to be able to manage not to criticize the other people involved???? If nothing else, just don't say anything, eh?

Look, I know they're upset, and I'm trying to cut 'em some slack, really I am (I've moderated my tone, actually, from my first cut, when I was really outraged). But I just can't imagine being in their position and criticizing the guy who stopped the robbery, no matter how much I might love my grandson. There's such a thing as right and wrong, you know? And right and wrong don't change their nature just because somebody you love gets on the wrong side.