There was a disturbing line in HBO's series, The Unending, when a mom of a young child asks the how to handle her child's "first murder." I was disturbed by that line because in too many communities in the United States children are dealing with the impact of murder in their midst. Why do we allow this to happen? How can we change this?
There was a murder last night only a few miles from my home. It was not the first murder near my home. There have been a handful of murders in my midst over my life. Each time, I wonder how those murders could have been prevented. In most cases, guns were the the weapons used.
The first time, it was a family impacted by the murder of a sibling and the mother. The murder had a devastating domino effect on other family members. Then there was the very sad event when a young man murdered his former girlfriend, and a time when a former student murdered a man in his current hometown. Each murder was very different, and in most cases the people knew each other. With every situation, I wondered what could have been done to prevent the heinous acts.
With regard to the former student, the child suffered a lot and had little support. We truly worked hard to help that child who spent only a short time at our school. With the murder of the girlfriend, we all learned a lot about what to look out for and how to prevent such acts which are more common than I ever imagined. And, with the family, it was clearly a case of getting involved with dangerous people. And now, the most recent report appears to be the result of domestic matters.
As much as possible, we have to work to support best possible living for all, living that supports positive mental health and good relationships. We cannot become numb to murders, domestic abuse, and dangerous situations, instead we have to work against such occurences.