2006-05-09 - 7:58 a.m.
“How can you go on living after your child died like that?”
-A mother speaking about her daughter who died in the Great White club fire.
I don’t diminish other people’s tragedy, but I do question their motivation for high dollar lawsuits, or their desire to see other people punished for an accident.
Will a couple hundred grand make you feel a better? How will putting some fool away for the rest of his life make you feel better?
I just don’t get it. I’ve commented on all this before. But I am reminded of the pointlessness of it all every time a big case like this hits the news.
The band manager, who is on trial because he lit the pyrotechnics, is facing life in prison. He admitted guilt to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. We’re not talking about a serial arsonist here, I guarantee this guy was not planning to ruining the rest of his life, or anyone else’s life that night. He was just doing his job, which by the way, does not include ensuring that the club his band was playing in was built to fire code.
You want “closure” you want to move on with your life, I’ve got a real answer for you.
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness is how you recover from tragedy. Revenge and greed are not how you get over tragedy. A bad thing happened to you, your angry, but a lot of money, or knowing that some guy is rotting away in jail for an accident that could have happened to you, will not make you feel better.
-Justus
