Snyder passes away

[ethan]

MC said:

So what you're saying is that the prison is profitable for the company that runs it wtih those profits coming from the government, and the government saves money by reducing the budget of the prison?

If I understand you correctly, then more inmates means more profit for the private company but also means more expense for the government (so it's still in the government's best interest to rehabilitate people).

Yup... Makes no sense at all.... and as the govt increases that budget, they turn around and cut other social programs... the rich get richer, the poor get poorer... gotta love captitalism!!!!

[Disgruntled70sHab]

I was just reading the Ottawa Sun editorial today and it echoed some of the sentiments we've all been discussing on this story. It's a beautiful piece.

All of you probably already know that Dan Snyder's family has totally forgiven Heatley. There was picture in the Toronto Sun today of Heately and Snyder's father embracing.

Dan Snyder

They buried Dan Snyder in a quiet ceremony in his Ontario home town of Elmira yesterday, five days after he lost the fight for his life following a terrible car crash in Atlanta where he played hockey for the NHL Thrashers.

This is one of those stories punctuated by the prayers of a million parents who survey the circumstances of this tragedy, witness the grief and the sorrow among friends and family, and pause long enough to say a quiet prayer beginning with the words: There but for the grace of God go I.

Lord knows you don't have to be the mom or dad of a hockey star to understand what the family of Dan Snyder is going through or to fear being visited by a similar nightmare one day.

Snyder died in a crash full of circumstances we don't know, although it appears to have included that most risky combination of ingredients -- a fast car and an overpowering sense of invincibility that almost always accompanies youth.

We all know that feeling. We sensed it in our own youth and we see it in the eyes of our own kids today. They don't need to be hockey stars to find themselves in similar circumstances -- in the seat of a car going much too fast.

How do we protect them from a similar fate? How do we get the message through -- that speed kills and that youth doesn't insulate one from that cruel reality?

The driver of the car, hockey star Dany Heatley, faces serious criminal charges and could face jail time if convicted. His injuries alone will keep him out of most, if not all of the season, but it's the invisible scars that will take much, much longer to heal.

While we don't know the circumstances of this tragedy, we do know this much: Whether or not Heatley is ultimately found to be at fault, he is already being punished in a manner far worse than most of us can imagine and it's a lifetime sentence from which he can never escape.

A friend and team member is dead. His own career lies in tatters.

We can only hope that somewhere, someone -- a kid with his first car, perhaps -- learns something from this tragedy about the frailties of life, that youth doesn't come equipped with body armour, that a simple mistake committed in the fast lane of a young life can have devastating consequences and that those consequences never really go away.

We extend condolences to the Snyder family. We pray that Dany Heatley will some day come to terms with this tragedy. And we live in hope that somewhere a lesson was learned from this.

RIP, Dan.