Nothing.

People do some insane things but deep down, everyone has a reason for doing what they do, even if they made the wrong choice.

That woman who overreacted to a man’s innocent joke and unfairly reported him…

She had to hear degrading jokes from her father and husband every day of her life.

The man who plagiarizes content and reposts it as his own…

He just wants the attention and praise. Attention that he never got from his parents at home.

And all his life he was lead to believe he wasn’t special. So he thinks he can’t make something special on his own.

The family that illegally crossed the border…

They were illiterate, uneducated. They didn’t know it was a serious crime.

The parents that believe in spanking kids…

Their parents spanked and beat them everyday. That’ll the only method of discipline they know.

The college kid who threw away his life for gambling and alcohol…

He has no family anymore, nothing to live for. The loneliness crippled him until momentary pleasures were all that kept him feeling alive.

The man who secretly loathes women…

He watched his father have everything taken away in a divorce, his uncle falsely imprisoned by his aunt and his brother abused by his girlfriend.

The guy who shot up a school…

He was abused at home, bullied at school and ignored by everyone else. He had a list of brutal mental illnesses torturing him every single day of his life and no one helped.

None of this is justifiable.

And yes, we can’t bend the law for anyone.

Those illegal immigrants will (and should) be deported. The shooter will get a life sentence. CPS will be called on the parents, etc, etc…

But we need to understand.

We need to understand why, so that, even if they become a lost cause, we can prevent ourselves from going down their paths and help the others already on that path.

I believe that all humans, even the worst ones, want something. Otherwise they wouldn’t do anything. Deep down, they want the same things we do.

Sympathy gives way to empathy, empathy gives way to understanding and understanding leads to knowledge and truth.

That’s why I feel sorry for these people.