MagicWand
Paddyanne's post has at least gone some way to explaining the reasons for the hate mail that the family have received.
Captain Tom was the right person in the right place at the right time. As previous posters have already said, it's just a shame people cannot accept that sometimes someone comes along who acts as an unwitting catalyst for something that is so much greater than anything they had originally planned. We should thank our lucky stars for these people as without them we might all live in a mean little world where no-one dare put their head above the parapet for fear of being shot down.
The rose is a lovely idea and I think the sentiments expressed in MagicWand's post are exactly right.