As you have probably heard from the countless news stories, this past week a two-year-old child, Lane Graves, was tragically killed when he was dragged underwater by an alligator while vacationing in Walt Disney World. Lane was simply putting his feet in the water at a lagoon, when the alligator snatched him and dragged him underwater. There were signs prohibiting swimming, however, there were no signs giving any warning about alligators in the water.

Since this tragedy, I have seen many hateful comments towards Lane’s parents, Matt and Melissa Graves, saying that they should have been more careful and kept a closer eye out on their child. First of all, Lane’s father made an effort to jump into the lagoon and rescue the child. Second, as previously stated, there were no signs giving any warning about alligators in the water.

When you are in a top-rated resort, you do not expect an alligator to come and drag your child underwater. It’s just not something anyone would expect. I’ll be completely honest, if my child was sitting at a lagoon with his feet in the water and I was right by his side, I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it, either.

These poor parents have unexpectedly lost their only son, not to mention on what was supposed to be a happy vacation, and now they have to deal with all of the hate and criticism from strangers who don’t even know the entire story. Give them a break. No one is perfect. Any parent can say that they have made mistakes while raising their child; it is inevitable. We cannot see the future and things happen. It is incredibly rude and disrespectful to bash these parents for their carelessness when they are going through such a difficult time.

In a world with so much hate, it is so important to be empathetic. Instead of criticizing Lane’s parents, feel sorry for them. Imagine what it would be like if Lane was yourchild, brother, cousin, or friend. These poor parents have to live with the guilt of losing their child every single day for the rest of their lives. They don’t need more added on coming from the media. Take this as a lesson to learn to have compassion for others, not hate.