“He has a criminal record…and yet he was working in our community.”
My parents raised me with an egalitarian philosophy and, for the most part, that perspective has served me well… until now. I’m having a major clash of ideals in light of the recent kidnapping, probable rape and eventual cold-blooded murder of Judy Nilan here in our quiet little hamlet. I don’t know if I still believe we all deserve equal rights and opportunities.
Like most I suppose, I am saddened, maddened and fit to spit. I am also repelled by the baser thoughts wriggling through my consciousness in the past few days… any number of scenarios exacting some form of biblical, eye-for-an-eye justice. But then, I snap myself back to reality, feeling guilty for entertaining such reviling thoughts.
Yeah, I know… it is the perp that is guilty! But, in the recesses of my mind is the whispered thought that perhaps others share part of the blame as well. This is such a specific instance that it is hard to pull back and put it into broader context – that of our culture as a whole. We’ve degenerated into a culture that is accepting of any and everything… we’ve lost the ability to hold anything sacred… exempt from this wholesale acceptance. We are so afraid of being seen as “judgmental” that we have sacrificed the very thing we value the most!… the individual.
The only way an “individual” can flourish is if each and every one of us works as diligently to preserve the structure of society as we do in exercising our own rights. Yes, that means we need to make choices… sometimes choices that are hard and uncomfortable. When we cut corners or try to slide by on something we know is right, we are weakening the structure. The cause and affect of this weakening, multiplied by as many of us as there are, eventually comes home to roost. It came home to roost this week.
Deojay stands accused of these heinous and dastardly acts. He has a criminal record of some length and yet he was working in our community. No doubt he was “working under the table”. With such a sketchy background, a person probably HAS to work under the table… probably didn’t fill out a job application either… you know… the part where you have to answer if you’ve ever been convicted of anything. With his criminal record, he probably ran out of people who were ignorant as to what kind of guy he was… So, he just moved a little bit farther up the pike. Read the rest of this entry »
