[@SleepingSilence] I think the way you're defining villainy is awfully narrow. A villain is, essentially, someone who undertakes villainous actions.  Getting in a car and driving whilst under the influence is at the very least illegal, and for good reason. The dad broke the law, that was a decision he made, regardless of the reasoning behind it. That doesn't make him a 'bad' person, but it does make him a person who did a bad thing.

 When you start to think of villains as being irredeemably evil, with no positive qualities, nothing that would engender sympathy, then quite simply, you have a very boring character.

 And that idea is... really not the story I wanted to tell, or, y'know I wouldve told that story. The whole purpose was to show how somebody's opinions can change, and how perspectives can be warped by age and circumstances. This is something that was explicitly allowed for in the prompt. 

[quote] Feel free to write from the perspective of an outsider observing the main cast's actions. Explain what the average person might think about seeing someone they held so highly fall so low.[/quote]

Ultimately, it was about perspective, and the impact this has on whether someone is a hero or not. The dad didn't 'sink into alcoholism'he always had issues with alcohol, Jenny's perspective just shifted in light of what happened. She's probably the only character in the story's universe who viewed him as a hero to begin with, hence why it is vitally important the story be told from her perspective, however angsty. 

My story was [i]far[/i] from perfect, and there are many things I would change were I to do further drafts - some of which you've touched on, and I do appreciate the discussion.

  I do feel like you're judging people overly harshly for interpeting the prompt even slightly differently to you - which I think if everyone had done it how you wanted them to, we'd have an awful lot of very same-y entries, and I for one appreciated the diversity of takes on the theme, yours included.