On Nov. 8 the Florida attorney general filed a $10,000 discrimination lawsuit against a Miami Beach restaurant owner on behalf of a black guy whose bill had a 15 percent tip tagged on, while adjacent white patrons were trusted to calculate their own gratuities. According to Charles Thompson, 40, Thai Toni owner Hiromi Takarada told him the reason for the mandatory charge: "Black people don't tip well."

Talk radio is abuzz with a predictable reaction to the lawsuit: Yeah, that sucks and it's probably racist, but why can't the guy get over it?

Perhaps one of our era's great ironies is that our people lust for vengeance against individuals who commit crimes while institutionalized wrongdoing is considered nothing more than an unfortunate mistake to be forgotten and forgiven for free. When parents of the victims of the Columbine High School shootings on April 20 sued the parents of the shooters, pundits applauded their attempt to make Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's parents legally and financially responsible for their losses. No one suggested that the parents were greedy, or that they should just get over it, or even that they might bear some blame themselves for raising their own kids to become bullies.

But when Klebold's parents sued local law enforcement authorities and the school district for failing to notify them of their kid's bizarre behavior, the media howled at their incredible gall. Never mind that the Klebolds might have stopped the Columbine tragedy from happening had the cops followed procedure by contacting them. In the eyes of the good burghers of Littleton, the only acceptable reaction to being vilified by the press and ostracized by their community was for the Klebolds to get over the suicide of their son and twist in the wind as the other parents eviscerated them in the courts.

As you read this, the relatives of those killed in EgyptAir Flight 990, which fell into the Atlantic last week, are busy meeting with lawyers. Once their lawsuits are filed -- against the airline and perhaps one or more parts manufacturers who screwed up -- you can count on a chorus of disgust from those whose moms, dads, sons and daughters didn't happen to fly direct from JFK to a fish's belly.

It's cheap and facile to glibly dismiss others' grief, and to attribute their legal actions to greed. But litigation is a long, painful process. Most plaintiffs suffer through it only to ensure that no one else ever has to go through their pain. And I defy you to find me one litigant who wouldn't trade in every dime he won in court to turn back the clock to the point before his life went to hell.

(Ted Rall, a cartoonist and columnist for Universal Press Syndicate, is the author of "Revenge of the Latchkey Kids.")