Unfortunately, he hasn't posted again in Terraforums and who knows what lesson he took from this. We should be a little more gentle with people in these situations, to bring them over to our side.
I disagree..I think being "too gentle" is what leads people to "minimize" in the first place..
they are never taught responsibility, they are never told right from wrong..because that would be "mean" and "lower their self esteem"..
I think the lesson he took from this is probably very clear..because we were all very blunt and not "gentle"..
we "let him have it"..which was perfectly justified..
He probably hasnt posted again because of how we all reacted to his story..
and how we were "mean" to him and not gentle..
and personally I have no problem with that.
next time he is in a similar situation hopefully he will think twice before stealing plants.
We should be
less gentle when people do things wrong..
we coddle our criminals far too much in our society.
they should be told, flat out, that what they did is very wrong and it sucks..
just like in that thread..
why beat around the bush about it?
just "tell it like it is"..
they need to learn..
IMO its much better to be direct and very clear.
"gentleness" is not called for in cases like that.
Children know stealing is wrong..
bit he wouldn't admit it was wrong..he "minimized" it..
its a classic example of DM's definition..
Scot