SumOfUs be compassionate, not vindictive.

Shepard Smith screwed up and called Robin Williams a coward for committing suicide.

Stop, go watch the video. Its an off the cuff comment, he was wondering, thinking being creative. A big part of being creative is screwing up. It disturbs me that the first response to Shepard Smith’s screw up is to call for his job. I’ve written about this sort of behavior before.

SumOfUs started a petition calling for “Fox news to fire presenter Shep Smith for his insensitive comments, and immediately educate staff about mental illness and suicide.” Calling for an apology is appropriate, asking for someone’s job, someone’s livelihood isn’t, as SumOfUs’s tag line purports to be, “Fighting for people over profits”, its being vindictive.

When I screw up, I want to be given the opportunity to make amends.

I tweeted earlier today:

(Famous) People Screw Up. Shep Smith of @ShepNewsTeam screwed up. He apologized. I, for one, accept his apology. http://t.co/UECMA0js5O

— Nick Barnard (@ncbarnard) August 13, 2014

It is easy to be compassionate toward your friends and those like you, but all the great religions of the world call on us to love those not like us as well.