Son’s killer free, reopening old wounds
DEAR ABBY: Mysonwas murdered four years ago by a supposed friend. Despite a 10-year sentence, the murderer was released from prison this month.
When I go onto the convicted manslaughterer’s Facebook page, he has many people congratulating and welcoming him home.
The murderer has not once apologized or shown remorse. He was on home incarceration for six months before he was sentenced for manslaughter, and during that time, he impregnated his girlfriend instead of thinking about the devastation he’s caused my family.
Instead of announcing to his Facebook friends and family that he’s on his way home and that he is home, I feel he should keep his mouth shut and live a quiet life. Do people not recognize the devastation that has been caused to surviving family members of the victim? — Hurt Again in Kentucky
DEAR HURT AGAIN: Please accept my sympathy for the tragic loss of your son. The family and friends of the person who killed your son appear to have lost sight of the reason for his incarceration. But viewed from another perspective, they are happy to have their loved one back with them.
A resource that might help you is the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children Inc. I hope you will give it a try. My heart goes out to you.
DEAR ABBY: Recently we needed to use the local ATM. When we drove by, we could see it was being filled by an armored truck. My husband said I should get in line. I looked around and saw other people waiting in their cars, so I thought I would do the same. My husband repeated that I should get out and get in line. Faced with the choice of standing in line or being nagged by my husband, I chose the former and was the first person to form a line.
After 20 minutes standing there and reading the news on my phone, the ATM guards seemed to be finished. That’s when a woman approached me and said she had been waiting longer than me, albeit in her car, and I would have to go to the end of the line. I ignored her.
As I was making my withdrawal, I could hear the woman say to the others now lined up behind her that I had jumped the line and she called me an expletive. Was I wrong to have stood my ground, or should I have moved to the back? — Waiting in Texas
DEAR WAITING: If you were the first person to stand at the ATM while others chose to wait in the comfort of their vehicles, you owed no one an apology.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www. Dearabby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.