i got involved in a facebook thread about a horrible situation that took place 2 days ago in a nearby small town, circleville, ohio. what happened, apparently, is that a domestic dispute broke out, a 21-year old mother intervened and tried to stop it, and she ended up getting beaten to death by 2, maybe as many as 4, adults. on top of which, supposedly several bystanders did nothing except stand by.
as you might imagine, practically everyone who commented on the facebook post wanted to see the people who have been arrested for this to be shot, execution-style. line 'em up and POW! hang 'em high! let 'em rot in hell! blow their heads off and THEN let 'em rot in hell!
foolishly (it was foolish because this country is STUPID), i offered that, while i am as horrified as the next guy about this whole thing, we do have this teensy little thing in this country called presumption of innocence. until proven guilty.
WHOA. you'da thought i'd just suggested that we give the men and women who have been arrested for this the nobel peace prize or somethin'.
the conversation in the thread switched from railing against the sons of bitches who did this awful thing to railing against me for coming to their "defense."
i very calmly and dispassionately clarified that, my opinions notwithstanding and their opinions nothwithstanding, the fact of the matter is, this is how the justice system works in our country. i reminded the other commenters that i wasn't the one who established this system (although i think the ones who did were spot on), but i am obligated - as are they - to respect it. i even threw in the fact that if the tables were turned, we all would probably want everybody to respect it for us.
but, nope. nothin' doin.' everybody wanted my head on a platter just as much as they wanted these other people's heads on platters.
i tell you this story because it exemplifies something with which i have been struggling mightily for months. years, really. and that something is this........why the hell won't any.body rise the hell up and over? for once, go after an ideal higher than your own intellect, your own thoughts, your own gut feelings, your own de.mands.
but hardly anybody ever does. it makes me sick. we are all so about ME. and when you get right down to it, most of the people who are the most all about themselves are the very ones who think they aren't! they're the very ones who think that all of their passion and all of their fight and all of their drive is being offered for the good of someone else.
but most of the time, it's not. if it were, Christ never would have had to come.
and He never would have had to die.
(last sentence written by my daugher, abby bowman)
