19 July 2008

The thing is...

I don't even bet five bucks on the Stanley Cup... how could I roll the dice on my child's life?

So, I'm thinkin'... if you know the bullets are flyin' all over the neighbourhood... why don'cha get the hell outta Dodge? That's one of the bigger reasons we left Toronto for the country charms of Hastings County.

I know, I know... I'm just waiting for the mindless barrage of flaming comments about blaming ol' dad... but if it was my son... I know I'd be blaming myself.

So I just don't get it.

And I guess... this guy didn't either.
"He wanted to be a lawyer," his father said. "He was a good student. Ninety [per cent] plus."

"He was good friends with everybody."
Well, forgive me for being a little indelicate here... but, the fact that he was targeted for murder... would seem to suggest otherwise.

And, of course, there's always at least two sides to every story...
But some in the building said Mr. Khawaja had a confrontational side and was quick to talk big in defence of his friends.

"This guy that got killed [Thursday] was a previous instigator, man," said one 28-year-old woman, an area resident who wouldn't give her name.

"They're innocent because they're dead, but they're not that innocent. Trust me."
Regardless of what the actual facts are here... the moral of the story isn't that anyone "deserves" to die. It's that you, as a parent... do whatever... WHATEVER... you can to protect your children.

And that includes, to a certain point in their lives, protecting them from themselves.

Because the price of not doing that... is too horrific to bear.

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RELATED: Live... and don't learn
While investigators didn't have an exact motive for the attack, they said the victim had survived being shot in the head in the past.
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