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First and foremost, Canadians and others should be very happy for Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman and their children now that their five-year ordeal is over.

The conditions under which the family was held hostage by the Taliban/Haqqani group were truly horrendous and no one should underestimate or dismiss that. I, for one, feel most for the kids and we have already read where the oldest is having a hard time adjusting to freedom.

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Yes, children are resilient and their very young age in this case will help with their recovery but the suffering they endured will take time to undo.

Unfortunately, some in this country have been less-than-generous in their remarks towards the family. As the Ottawa Citizen’s deputy editor Keith Bonnell wrote on Monday, comments have been made that eschew pity and suggest that Boyle is at best a narcissist and at worse a terrorist.

As Bonnell stated, these views appear “at times, to verge on gleeful disdain.” Expressions such as these are really uncalled for but are, alas, all too common in today’s Twitterverse.