No
I've discussed the issue before, and I'm not going to change my opinion all of the sudden because of this incident. It's not justification in favor of a stipend or against it, and I said like three different ways that there was no excuse, but stipends were taken away from college athletes and they should be entitled to them. It's not right that their benefits as a student athlete went down, as earnings went up.
When I was around 13, I started taking lunch money from my dad. He'd leave change lying around, and he's taken away my allowance, didn't give me lunch money, and I didn't get a lunch packed or that sort of thing. However, there was food in the fridge. Had I taken the time, I could have and should have just figured out something to pack for my own lunch.
So, was what I did justified? No, it wasn't. However, had I been given lunch money, I wouldn't have done it. I didn't take money to buy useless crap, I did it because I was hungry. When I wasn't living with my dad, I just went without lunch. Once again, no lunch money, no packed lunch, and I should have just packed my own lunch, but I wasn't going to take anything from people letting me live with them. Kids don't always make wise choices or think very far ahead.
To reiterate for the fifth time, it's not an excuse, but common sense and my life experiences tell me that yes, stipends could prevent some incidents of this sort. That's reality, it doesn't justify crime, if someone tries to rob me I'm more inclined to shoot them than ask why they're doing it, but I am tired of people trying to demonize stipends which is something others on scholarship are entitled to.
