OPINION:
Whoever coined the phrase “hindsight is 20/20” deserves some credit. This rings true as we look back on past events with crystal clarity. The illusion that we should have that same lucidity looking forward is nonsensical (“James Crumbley, who bought gun used by son in Michigan school shooting, found guilty of manslaughter,” web, March 14).
I believe that the arrests and convictions of Jennifer and James Crumbley were borne out of the immense frustration we all feel whenever one of these mass shootings occurs. Will this groundbreaking case help mitigate the problem? Only time will tell.
To an onlooker, it seems nearly certain that the Crumbleys are at least partially responsible for what happened the day their son wreaked havoc at Oxford High School. After all, they bought him the gun. Their parenting didn’t seem exemplary.
However, it wasn’t so far removed from my childhood. I grew up in the 1950s. Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, if acknowledged at all, were accepted as a normal stage of adolescence most kids would outgrow. Whether this was true is another conversation.
So now we have a precedent for charging parents for the crimes of their children. Do I believe James and Jennifer Crumbley could have imagined what happened that fateful day? I do not. Should they have? Well, hindsight is 20/20.
SCOTT THOMPSON
Bloomington, Indiana
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