Every society has its thugs. Every society has its heroes and heroines. Compassion and the instinct to protect; great deeds and small, are everywhere . The victim’s champion, Katie Cutler, hugs him and wipes away a tear. There it is: Love.

Video, and following Excerpt, from Daily Mail.

“Mr Barnes, who stands at just four foot six, was inundated with messages of support after the attack outside his home left him with a broken collar bone.

A fundraising page was set up by Katie Cutler, 21, after she found out about the attack. The page, which initially set a £500 target, ended up reaching a total of £330,135.
Mr Barnes has previously said a solicitor will help him manage the money and vowed not to spend it on ‘flashy holidays’.
Speaking after the hearing today, Katie Cutler said: ‘I just think it is sad. It was awful what has happened to Alan, but we both think it was really sad that Richard Gatiss needed the money that badly.
‘If he goes to prison, it will hopefully make other people think twice about doing what he did.
‘There must have been a reason for him to have done what he did. I feel very lucky in my life as I have had a good upbringing, with good parents, who were very strict.
‘It is possible that Richard Gatiss didn’t and that’s what led him to do what he has done.’ ”

At every level of Nature, the instinct to nurture is a powerful force. Inter-dependence is a law as well as a choice, it seems. We pervert it at our peril, when mindless humans pillage the vulnerable. It is tempting to suggest that animals are not capable of the cruelties of vandalism. But a fox in a hen-house kills more than it can eat; so destructiveness is not exclusively a human trait, after all. Or is there a fundamental difference between primitive blood-lust and human acts of violence?

Where, indeed, is hate? (Penstorm)