Depressing news story!

In my opinion, this is the most depressing news story of the year. The worst part? It keeps getting worst. Now a story appears on CNN.com (habit still not broken) relaying how a group in the town has taken it upon themselves to exact their own form of justice on the Drew family by publishing their address, driving by their house and yelling murderer, harassing the parents at work, etc. Now from what I read, the family they are harassing certainly is thought to have committed a reprehensible act, but let's for a moment parallel the 2 chains of events that have played out in this town.

The Chain of Events Leading to the Suicide of Megan Meier:

1. Some people believe Megan treated them poorly
2. Some people take it upon themselves to teach Megan a lesson
3. Lesson ends in tragedy

The Chain of Events Upon Discovery of Participation of Drew Family in Tragedy

1. Some people believes Drew family treated Megan VERY poorly
2. Some people take it upon themselves to teach Drew family a lesson
3. TBD

Again, I'm not here to in any way excuse the actions that Lori Drew or other members of the family are suspected of, but I do have to say that the actions of all involved seem to be missing a pretty big lesson of this entire senseless tragedy: when people take justice/revenge/lesson teaching into their own hands, really bad things can happen. To me it seems clear that it is the failure to understand this lesson that resulted in this tragedy; hopefully history won't repeat itself.