No one wishes to talk about it, everyone want justice served cold, right now! I don’t contest that, we are all angry and sad and scared. Maybe a severe punishment to one will be a deterrent to another, that is what we expect. I am no legal expert or a psychologist or a statistician, I am one of you, a son, brother, husband, father, and I am as clueless as you are but I do have an unpopular opinion and I will express it.
A person who is privileged to have three square meals may also seek more, greed has no limits. However, there is a possibility that such a person can be taught to overcome greed, it is possible to convince him that his desire to have more is unhealthy, dangerous. Whether the greedy person understands it for his own good and that of the society is another story, but all I am saying is that there is ray of hope in this case.
On the other hand, there is another person who is starving, he is broke, homeless fellow. He has had no food for days, he is scavenging to survive. He can beg, borrow and steal...! The desire to survive is much bigger and stronger than the greed. A person on the verge of collapse will hold on to whatever source of energy he can see around. It is impossible to persuade him.
Question is, do we punish this scavenging survivor? Or do we help build a society that is well fed so that no one starves, no one snatches?
I am not trying to sympathize with a criminal. I am not saying a criminal should not be punished. I am asking a question that a majority of us are unwilling to answer? What drives a criminal to commit a crime? What drives a person to insanity? What makes one commit horrifying actions? Can we address that? Please?
Oh and till the time we find an answer; can we stop or at least reduce making a public display of affluence? It is not a good idea to eat away to glory and spit on the street in front of a hungry scavenger! Take care.