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By now you may have heard that Jon Meis is a hero. The brave 22-year-old student at Seattle Pacific University in Washington has been credited for helping to stop shooter Aaron Ybarra, who opened fire at the school this week, killing one person and injuring three. Meis attacked the gunman with pepper spray while he was reloading his gun, allowing other students to then tackle the madman and prevent him from killing or hurting anyone else.
A truly courageous act certainly deserves to be rewarded, doesn't it? But I'm guessing the young man never thought it would be this way.
Meis and fiancee Kaylie Sparks are planning to be married at the end of this month. Like many couples, they created an online gift registry where wedding guests can order household appliances and other goodies they may need after exchanging vows. Well, thanks to one Reddit user, complete strangers have been sending the couple gifts.
The user posted a link to Meis and Sparks' registry page on theknot.com, along with the message: This is the wedding registry for the man who subdued the SPU gunman. You know what to do.
And lots of people apparently knew exactly what to do because, with the exception of a few items, every single thing has been purchased from their registry.
My first thought was that this was an extremely generous and sweet gesture. After reading some of the Reddit comments, though, some of which were posted by people who claim to know Meis and say he's very private, I began to question it. Some are calling this act an "invasion of privacy" and say it's wrong to link one of the worst days in this man's life with what will be one of his best days.
Call me crazy or insensitive, but I still think it's pretty awesome of complete strangers to want to show their gratitude to Meis and to do it by sending gifts and wishing this couple the best as they start their new life together. He definitely deserves all of the recognition he can get -- especially considering how we spend far too much time focusing on the shooters in these (all too common) tragedies.
What do you think? Is this a really nice gesture or an invasion of Meis' privacy?
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