PLATFORM : Them Versus Us
Life is sacred, and when any human life is snuffed out as a result of senseless violence, we all suffer as individuals and as a nation founded on the premise of liberty and justice for all.
It is all too easy to distance ourselves from the brutal murders of these innocent victims by limiting our concern, by not caring because they weren’t “like us.” In doing so, we wrongfully believe that such acts of random, degrading violence won’t happen to us because we’re not “like them.” “We’re not prostitutes.” “We wouldn’t think of doing drugs.” Herein lies the danger. Because violence happens every day in virtually every community to people “like us” who, for all intents and purposes, epitomize the ideal citizen. Apathy does not (grant) immunity from violence.
The murders of 17 young women are, by themselves, horrifying. But the more covert crime is our society’s failure to offer compassion and respect to them and their loved ones.
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