Editor,
This letter is to Elizabeth Lambert.
I am an athlete at BYU. I was watching the game and saw what you did; it made me angry. Later that night I saw it again on Sports Center. The next morning, I saw it on YouTube. All day Friday I have listened to people say “If I were there I would have … ” followed by a graphic description of how they would make you hurt. Slowly my feelings of anger have turned into sympathy.
What you did was inexcusable and you deserve to be punished. But no one deserves the amount of hate that has been directed at you over the last day. I hope you haven’t seen the YouTube video and read the comments because they are disgusting. There are a lot of unforgiving ignorant people in this world. Most of what has been said are empty words spoken in the heat of the moment. Much like you, people do or say things and regret them later. Sometimes the voice of reason gets lost in a storm of the reactionary.
That is why I feel a little hesitant saying this while the incident is so fresh in
everyone’s minds. But I wanted you to know that we at BYU try to live by the Christian ideals that we profess, namely forgiveness. I hope that none of my fellow students have been a part of the vicious campaign against you. If so, then I apologize on their behalf.
I am sure this is a very difficult time for you and it may very well get worse. Whatever the consequences of your actions, I hope you have people who will stand by you. It would be a shame to let this one incident turn your life in the wrong direction.
Rob Skidmore
BYU student
