  == Conclusions from Perspective and Hindsight ==  Viewed again with more facts, a little more time to think about it, and a chance to turn back the clock, it is clear that while there was a lot of avoidable blame to go around, the meaningful blames lie first with the mother, then with the airport authorities, and only last with the law enforcers. Those are the layers of blame. The victim should be exonerated completely, given he had been well over a day and a night left alone and waiting, waiting, perhaps devoid of food, water, and finally his ability to think straight (and who wouldn't do crazy behavior in our individual way, given his experience? But add the extra handicap of his linguistic isolation).  1. Did the mother, knowing her only child so well, his sense of trust and lack of any experience in the modern world of air travel, and his complete lack of the English language, arm him with a letter written in English to carry on his person which he could show to authorities? And a list of notes for him written in Polish on what to do in case of emergency? And, with her experience and knowledge of life in Canada, why did she leave the airport at all and accept the information that he was not at the airport?    2. Given failures on the part of the mother, then the next layer comes in, and those are the airport authorities. They had absolutely nothing in place to deal with this type of emergency, surely not rare in such a cosmopolitan city and port of entry as Vancouver. Do they not have a travelers welcoming desk, where the mother could have gone to give the information about her missing son, who could have been effectively tracked down?  Their huge and final blunder was to call in the cops. Cops are a weapon these days, especially these days of terrorists which created rules and instructions. Procedures are in place to deal with perceived threats, in the form of a. disarm, b. secure (takedown and handcuff), and c. ask questions later. Which leads to  3. It should always be assumed that cops are trained law enforcers, and are not mentally equipped to think outside the box. In rare cases, very rare, there might be a cop among them capable of taking the time to think clearly, assume the best and not the worst, and with the courage to break the rules and check out whether there might be a simple explanation before using brute force. But don't, in fact never, bet on it. That the police were called was an admission and guidance on the part of the Vancouver airport authorities that they had done all they could to resolve the problem at all levels of problem solving and dispute resolution.  As an afterthought, the bystanders should not be absolved of guilt here. Why were some people taking pictures and videos starting several minutes before the entry of the police? Did anyone speak to him? Did they see a simple problem, and get involved on a human level? Certainly many were gawking at the spectacle, and today one hopes they are ashamed with themselves; only they know and will keep the memory. Yes, there is much to think about. As the priest said at the son's funeral, it came down to a matter of the lack of simple, human COMMUNICATION. A lesson for all of us.  A future civil case in a court of law will thoroughly air the verifiable truth and meanwhile we already know the consequences. JohnClarknew 