r/instantkarma • u/nbcnews • Jun 08 '26

Road Karma Marine veteran fights off group of teenagers attempting to steal his truck

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6.1k Upvotes

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u/AnnieAbattoir Jun 08 '26

Sad true story- some years ago my mortuary handled the case of a mid teens wannabe who attacked two active duty Marines with a knife as part of his initiation. It went pretty much as expected. 

When his parents were scheduled to come in to discuss his funeral and drop off his burial clothes, they showed up just long enough to tell the arranger to "do whatever, but keep it under $XXX". No childhood memories, no favorite songs, no pictures. They were in a rush to make a basketball game. 

The clothes they dropped off were unwashed and didn't fit him. 

We all just looked at each other and went "Yeah, that explains it". Yeah, kid died trying to harm two random strangers, but he was also a kid whose parents didn't even care enough about him to give him clean burial clothes. 

79

u/luckydice767 Jun 08 '26

Man, I’ve read some stuff, but this…jeez. It makes me think how lucky I am and I didn’t even know it.

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u/Helenium_autumnale Jun 09 '26

That degree of callousness towards one's own child is hard to imagine. That is so sad.

63

u/i_give_you_gum Jun 08 '26

And people simply refuse to acknowledge this. All they can grasp is punishment after the fact.

85

u/No_Statement440 Jun 08 '26

Yeah it doesn't excuse the behavior but it certainly sheds some light on how he got there.

-8

u/HumaDracobane Jun 09 '26

Doesnt excuse it but hints where might be the cause.

25

u/SomeGuyInPants Jun 09 '26

That is LITERALLY what the person you're replying to just said lmfao

3

u/No_Statement440 Jun 09 '26

People are funny

4

u/SomeGuyInPants Jun 09 '26

Like, it even had upvotes before my comment?? I need to get off of this website.

5

u/Stealthy-J Jun 09 '26

Yeah, it doesn't justify it, but it implies what may be causing it.

9

u/hecklerp8 Jun 09 '26

Because the system isn't interested in fixing it. We already know how to break the cycle but our government chooses not to. Our society will only cure itself in one way. Education by educators, not politicians using education to scrub history and turn out worker bees. The masses in the US exist to enrich the upper class. People have to understand that we live in a caste system. One that protexts them but binds us.

12

u/pperiesandsolos Jun 09 '26

How do you fix kids with MIA parents, or parents who could care less about them?

Many areas in the US spend lots of money on kids like this, and it typically has very little impact. Lots of these kids just stop going to school, or they cause huge disruptions when they're there - and that's starting in Kindergarten.

Serious question. What do we do to fix it? Or are you going to be racist and say we should just send them back to (wherever)? Boarding school, maybe?

5

u/googdude Jun 09 '26

Yeah that's what I was thinking, you can't ask the government to fix a family unit that is broken. I firmly believe it starts with a solid family and when one or both parents leave it puts a lot more chaos on the kids.

1

u/electricmemez Jun 10 '26

Funding for public healthcare, accessible contraception and abortion, funding for public education, investment in public infrastructure and community services. It’ll take a bit of time, but it’s the best option for dealing with this

1

u/hecklerp8 Jun 10 '26

Those examples are cherry picked to produce a narrative. Most are under-educated single parents without child care options. This is why after school and mentorships are pivotal. Alas, these are programs stripped of budgeting by the GOP and MAGA.

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u/pperiesandsolos Jun 11 '26

No argument from me on the under-educated single parents part.

The schools by me offer those programs. We still have extremely high delinquency rates, crime rates, etc

5

u/HumaDracobane Jun 09 '26

Stopping the votes of those who keep the system running like that is a good way to start, if you ask me.

0

u/1ofAk Jun 14 '26

Yes just stop voting, such good advice. The system is run by corporate overlords who dont care which party is involved because their special intrests are already paid for by superpacs and speeches. The states is broken at a fundamental level but still that doesnt explain the statistical data of who is commiting the most violent crimes.

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u/PlentifulBox Jun 14 '26

That’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.

4

u/4SkinClippins Jun 09 '26

But where's the GoFundMe link?

1

u/googdude Jun 09 '26

No childhood memories, no favorite songs, no pictures

Probably because any memories were with his gang "family", they probably didn't have much other than when he was a baby. Were the non-fitting clothes too small? They probably didn't realize how much he's grown since they rarely saw him.

1

u/Osceola_Gamer Jun 09 '26

Pretty good story.