I don't really have much to add except it's a sad and unfortunate situation all around. The kid shouldn't have lost his life. The farmer shouldn't have shouldn't have had his & his families life irreparably changed. I'm not going to tout that I did stupid stuff like this as a kid, but neither did I grow up in circumstances that Colten Bushie did. I have no idea what his life was like, or what he was dealing with. I'm not naive to the fact that growing up on a First Nation reserve no doubt has a slew of challenges for kids that I would have never had to deal with. So I don't judge him. I also don't blame Mr. Stanley for his actions either. He thought his family was in danger, and I can't say that me, or my loved ones would have acted any differently. It's tough. We don't know whether he'd faced similar situations in the past either. So I can't judge him.
I think it's absolutely possible and even necessary to have empathy for both parties here. It's easy to assign blame, and I think it's lazy. For me the take-away, is that we really owe our First Nations youth more. We need to make it a priority to help these kids overcome obstacles they may be facing. My sisters friend worked as a counselor for First Nations youth, and it's not easy for them. For many, their whole lives are surrounded by addiction, violence, and a general distrust of those outside the reserve. A lot of them don't stand a chance in the world outside their reserve (and even on it). We have to do better by them.
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