Joshua Boyle's Responsibility

An Ottawa Citizen newspaper editor is of the view that some people are being overly judgemental regarding the decisions made by Joshua Boyle in taking his pregnant wife to problem areas of Afghanistan. Recently freed after being held in captivity for 5 years the Boyle family is now in Canada.

Although there may be some validity with the thinking that some people were too quick to condemn, perhaps the general public may have been less critical if Boyle had immediately offered some comment to the effect that he underestimated the risks associated with his adventure. Without accepting some responsibility for what was generally acknowledged by most people as a poor decision, and even though we may feel bad for the ordeal endured by Boyle and his family, there are good reasons to be less than totally sympathetic.