For Want of the Price of Tea and a Slice, the Old Man Died.

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This brings up two points.

Firstly, how can shooting someone not be classed as a criminal offence? I may not live in America, and I understand that there are different laws (including that stupid law that lets people carry guns), but when someone gets away with shooting someone else, there should be some sort of bell that rings in everyone's mind. There is no way it can be justified as "self-defence". Had the woman simply phoned the police, there would be no need for any of that to happen. Better still, the woman could have actually been considerate, and let him use this basic facility that was denied to him.

Secondly, why had the man ended up in such a state? Let's not be prejudice and call him a drug addict. For all we know, he was simply down on his luck. He made a couple of bad decisions, and has paid for them. Good reason to shoot someone, isn't it?

As someone on the forum I found the article on said, "both these people were created by society". If people could be more accepting and generous to each other, and never fell the need to want a piece of metal used to kill, how much better would society be? Everyone would feel welcomed, no one would be betrayed by the government. There would be a roof over everyone's head, and no one would be discontent.

Ok, that may just be a distant utopia, and there are obviously a lot more problems around. But surely it's a start, right? When people don't extend a hand to you, maybe you should extend it first. It may not come to anything, but at least then you can say that you did your bit to help this person's life. I don't want to sound like a preacher, but helping others is one of the only ways we can sort out this mess we call modern life.