'To The Teen Who Planned To Kill My Son': Dad's moving letter expresses empathy

[NaturalHigh]

On Monday, when police reported finding "blueprints of explosive" at the home of a teenager who allegedly planned a "mass casualty event" at Edmond North High School in Oklahoma, the father of another student at that school wrote a compassionate open letter "To The Teen Who Planned To Kill My Son."

Charles Martin — whose older son, Michael, is a 15-year-old freshman at Edmond North — told TODAY.com Tuesday that he posted the moving letter online for several reasons: to encourage the accused teenager to stay positive, and to allow himself to process his spectrum of emotions.

"I recently went on a trip to Austin with a friend of mine who works at a rehab center, and in that time we talked a lot about compassion and about dealing with people who have had rough lives," Martin said. "Rather than trying to immediately judge them for their mistakes, try to find the common ground and understand the elements that bring us all to these hard places from time to time."

Martin, creative director at Literati Press Comics & Novels, added that it was a lot easier for him to stay positive toward the troubled teen — whose name has not been released — because tragedy was averted, largely thanks to that teen's friends who alerted authorities when they reportedly received alarming texts.

http://www.today.com/parents/teen-who-planned-kill-my-son-oklahoma-dad-edmond-north-2D80552750

Interesting read. I don't know if I could be this understanding.

[NuclearDem]

1. Thanks for posting. That was a powerful read.