On Wednesday, May 11th, around 3:30 p.m., tragedy struck my small town of Madison, Mississippi. Within an hour or so, the news spread to citizens that a mother had left her 2-year-old child in the back seat of her car while going to work. According to local news stations WLBT and WAPT the mother claims she thought she dropped her child off at their normal daycare center and went to work. However, when she later went to the daycare to pick up her child, employees informed her she had never dropped off her child. The mother then rushed to her car to find her child had already passed away in the back seat.

An investigation is ongoing, but what I want to discuss today is how citizens of the state of Mississippi and surrounding states reacted to this tragic situation.

When I first got wind of the story, I immediately started checking different news outlets' Facebook pages because that was the quickest way to get more information. I wasn't sure what to think about the story and mother's story and I wanted to read others' opinions, so I started reading the comments under different news posts.

And many of the comments were absolutely horrific, some even going as far as to say the parents should be hung and skinned. Many people seem to love to share their opinion no matter how brutally honest it may be, so I've decided to do the same.

Here in the South we tend to value faith, family and class.

And might I say, some of the commenters did an absolutely phenomenal job expressing their faith that they continually post about on their own Facebook pages. Some of the comments ranged from saying this mother is on the "highway to hell" and that "she should lose her right to bear any more children" or "she should be killed." What a way to reach out and be a godly example of Jesus and His grace and mercy.

Oh and the way some of the commenters promoted the importance of family left me dumbfounded. I'm sure that some of the women commenters are "much better mothers than this woman." Their children should be proud of them for lifting themselves up while a baby's life was lost only hours ago — what remarkable motherly instincts.

And I can't forget to mention the contradictory class some of the sweet Southern women showed in the comments. I couldn't help but adore the comments saying how they are "praying for this family" but then go on to say that they "don't understand how one could be so ignorant and such an idiot" and then continued to go into gruesome detail about what the child went through before passing away. I'm sure their caring comments will be appreciated by the family involved.

Before some of these commenters accuse me of being biased, I figure I'll explain my thinking and why I chose to write about this.

In the beginning of this article I stated that I wasn't sure what to think about the whole story and I still don't. I can see the situation both ways. This mother purposely leaving her child in the car very well could be the case but also it really might have been an accident because we do get overwhelmed and forgetful - we are only human after all.

But what sent me off the edge and truly motivated me to write this article was the hateful, vulgar, explicit comments some of my fellow Mississippians left for this woman, her family, and her close friends to read. I would like to mention that not all commenters chose to partake in this abusive behavior, but chose to simply state their opinion or even show support for the family.

I'm also not saying people shouldn't state their opinion (I'm doing that right now). It's fine to say whether or not you think the mother's story checks out or if you believe it was a terrible, unfortunate mistake. Since this is such a vague story about forgetfulness I do think it is completely understandable that there be an investigation held that questions the mother's story in respect for the child. Nobody knew the full story or any details only hours or even days after it happened so how can some of these commenters have the audacity to suggest that someone be killed?

My point is that it's not anyone's job to suggest that someone be put to death, lose the right to bear any more children, condemned to hell, or hung and skinned regardless of if they are guilty or not — we are not God. We need to put ourselves in someone else's place and drop the thought that we are holier than thou for a change. The next time someone feels the need to leave a comment about this story for the world to see, they should think about showing some of the family values, faith, and southern class they love to advertise.