Sometimes, Everyone Is A Victim and Everyone Is At Fault

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Yesterday saw the politicization of what is the most tragic small story I have encountered in a long time.  Families often carry a lot of tragedy, but rarely does that tragedy extend all the way to parricide.  Parricide accounts for only about two percent of all homicides and homicide, while way too common, is still something most people live their entire lives without encountering on a personal level.  Parricide involving a public figure is virtually unheard of – but there it was yesterday.  What kind of world do we live in that it turned, almost immediately, into a political spitball fight?

Here are some details on the background of this tragic story.  There is nothing good here, anywhere.  Bad kids, bad parenting and addiction thrown in for good measure – it is not a happy picture in any way.  You see a story like this and the euphemism, “There is enough  *stuff* to smear everybody,” comes to mind.  That just increases the tragedy.  Everyone in this family was both victim and victimizer.  There is no sense in sticking a finger into such a mess and trying to figure it out, it is just tragic.  You can’t blame anybody because everybody is to blame.

It also should be noted that the father in this beyond-Shakspearian tragedy was not just a public figure in his work, but was also, loudly, boisterously even, politically opinionated and active.  But that should disappear when tragedy this immense shows its face.  If his humanity is not enough to override the politics, yours should be.  It is simply not healthy to place politics over a tragedy like this in your own heart.

I know, everyone will be quick to point out who started the political spitball fight but I don’t think that makes any difference.  Taking that bait is just as inhuman as casting it.  All that has been accomplished by any of this is to compound tragedy with inhumanity.  You cannot damage the already dead, but you can damage your own heart and soul by trying to.  As with the tragedy itself, in the subsequent spitball fight everyone is a victim and everyone is to blame.

It’s the Christmas Season, but this whole episode, in every aspect, leaves me feeling dirty.  I pray that God can return the Christmas spirit to the nation before garbage like this swallows it completely.