Undone
My husband sent this article to me yesterday. It was from the Arizona Republic and briefly tells the story of how a man, who was bipolar, was shot last Monday while apparently in an agitated and threatening state.
My heart goes out grieviously to the family and friends close to the man who died. I cannot imagine their sorrow and am praying especially for his mother.
While I do not have all of the facts about the actual situation that led to his death, and I certainly don't want to draw conclusions, there are a few glaring pieces to this tragedy that are just stuck in my craw. That's right. Stuck in my craw.
You see, I found this article on a couple of other news pages. And I did something I don't always do. I read the comments.
A man is killed, who was holding only a bat, because he was threatening. I'm not going to draw conclusions, I'm not. But he was obviously agitated, possibly manic. The victim who felt threatened guessed that he was on drugs. The place where he happened to be was a very poor area.
Hence, the demeaning and degrading comments began. And no one, it seems, cared. He was after all, either on drugs, mentally ill and as one commenter said, "a scum bag"...they were just eliminating the "gene pool", and I'm quoting.
I have been trying to put into words for over a day now how I feel about this story and the public's response to it...I just can't, it's going to take some time. I need to let it be stuck in my craw for a few more days...
"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey
My heart goes out grieviously to the family and friends close to the man who died. I cannot imagine their sorrow and am praying especially for his mother.
While I do not have all of the facts about the actual situation that led to his death, and I certainly don't want to draw conclusions, there are a few glaring pieces to this tragedy that are just stuck in my craw. That's right. Stuck in my craw.
You see, I found this article on a couple of other news pages. And I did something I don't always do. I read the comments.
A man is killed, who was holding only a bat, because he was threatening. I'm not going to draw conclusions, I'm not. But he was obviously agitated, possibly manic. The victim who felt threatened guessed that he was on drugs. The place where he happened to be was a very poor area.
Hence, the demeaning and degrading comments began. And no one, it seems, cared. He was after all, either on drugs, mentally ill and as one commenter said, "a scum bag"...they were just eliminating the "gene pool", and I'm quoting.
I have been trying to put into words for over a day now how I feel about this story and the public's response to it...I just can't, it's going to take some time. I need to let it be stuck in my craw for a few more days...
"...the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " ~ Last Speech of Hubert H. Humphrey
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