There was another horrendous crime in Cleveland over the weekend. Not that it's anything unusual-- there is always a crime being commited somewhere around town, but this one was especially mind-boggling.
It seems that a fifteen year old went back to visit her old neighborhood. She was spotted by a seventeen year old rival, who then went and got her 32 year old mother, her 19 year old male cousin, and sixty year old grandmother. They returned to the scene, armed with knives and a stun gun, and held back the crowd, while the seventeen year old stabbed the fifteen year old to death. A friend of the victim was also stabbed.
Violence--fighting, stabbings, shootings, (drive-by and otherwise) robberies, rape, and murder-- is an ongoing occurrence around here. Only a few weeks ago, a little girl was shot to death, an innocent bystander who just happened to be in the line of fire between two men who were shooting at each other. And this goes on in the neighborhoods, day after day. Not to mention the swarm of thieves who descended on some foreign tourists in one of the nicer parts of the city a few months ago. No doubt they have some great vacation memories to share--along with a warning never to visit Cleveland if you value your life and belongings.
I don't know why I am writing about this--I'm not even from this area, so it is not like I am grieving over my own hometown. I live here because of my husband's employment. It just saddens me to think that it has to be like this--that people have to behave this way--here, or anywhere else. Besides, it serves no purpose. It does no good. It does not change a single thing. It will not bring back the lives of the innocent, nor those of the guilty. It will not heal one broken heart. It will not restore one bit of lost faith that was once placed in the future of what was once a great city.
Maybe, I do just need to stick my head in the sand, and pretend that bad things don't happen. Maybe, I wouldn't hurt so badly over things that I can't change.
It seems that a fifteen year old went back to visit her old neighborhood. She was spotted by a seventeen year old rival, who then went and got her 32 year old mother, her 19 year old male cousin, and sixty year old grandmother. They returned to the scene, armed with knives and a stun gun, and held back the crowd, while the seventeen year old stabbed the fifteen year old to death. A friend of the victim was also stabbed.
Violence--fighting, stabbings, shootings, (drive-by and otherwise) robberies, rape, and murder-- is an ongoing occurrence around here. Only a few weeks ago, a little girl was shot to death, an innocent bystander who just happened to be in the line of fire between two men who were shooting at each other. And this goes on in the neighborhoods, day after day. Not to mention the swarm of thieves who descended on some foreign tourists in one of the nicer parts of the city a few months ago. No doubt they have some great vacation memories to share--along with a warning never to visit Cleveland if you value your life and belongings.
I don't know why I am writing about this--I'm not even from this area, so it is not like I am grieving over my own hometown. I live here because of my husband's employment. It just saddens me to think that it has to be like this--that people have to behave this way--here, or anywhere else. Besides, it serves no purpose. It does no good. It does not change a single thing. It will not bring back the lives of the innocent, nor those of the guilty. It will not heal one broken heart. It will not restore one bit of lost faith that was once placed in the future of what was once a great city.
Maybe, I do just need to stick my head in the sand, and pretend that bad things don't happen. Maybe, I wouldn't hurt so badly over things that I can't change.
13 comments:
I always find it especially disheartening that grown people would endorse this kind of butchery and actually aid and abet a murderer in the taking of a 15 year old life. It is a sad, sad, world. You would have thought by the 21st centruy that we would become more enlightened beings, instead we seem to be rapidly digressing.
rockync...downward spiral seems more like it.
That is a more apt description when you think of how tolerant society has become of evil acts.
This is the only violence I actually understand. NOT approve mind you, but at least comprehend an act of passion, emotion pushed beyond sensibility. It is wrong, but it is at least human nature. Senseless deaths over mindless dispationate gang initiation, or misplaced religious brainwashing eludes my grasp on humanity. How can there be so many people out there without a conscience to care one way or another if someone dies. Crimes of passion I am prepared to accept, crimes of indifference to me are unconsciable. And I don't mean to say one act is any better or worse than the next, I am just saying personaly I cannot even pretend to understand how someone can be remorseless. As I am sure they can't understand why someone else would act out of emotion.
This story although I do not know the particulars sounds very much like the Hatfield and MCoys scenario, where yer grandpa kilt my grandpa and Imma gonna kilt yew.
It's all good fun in the movie theatre when the Jets and the Sharks square off in an alley, but reality casts a darker image.
Hello Jan, All the crime and violence in our country is so sad and disheartening. Things just keep getting worse everyday. Nothing I hear surprises me anymore.
Well, if you know the monster is out there, you can be prepared for him. Better to know what's going on, disheartening as it may be, than to just pretend there aren't any problems.
Who said "forewarned is forearmed", I can't remember but they were right.
It isn't just Cleveland, sweetie... it is in every city and backwater town. Even in our little burg things happen that make you shake your head at the cruel cold callousness of it all.
I don't have an answer, either.
vin..it is nothing like the Hatfield/McCoy feud, believe me.
It has become an on-going way of life in a culture that is out of control. It has nothing to do with religion, family pride, or any of those things with which one can identify.
This case is only one of many, indicative of total lack of conscience, empathy, or sympathy for another.
There is much, much, more that could said, but I won't say it.
lydia..I know what you mean. Nothing is really surprising, considaring how low certain sectors of society have sunk, but it is very disheartening.
hermit..I'm not too sure that being forewarned even helps, but I would like to think so...the monster is certainly out there.
sue..I know. It is everywhere. I guess that is the thing that is the most disgusting of all.
This reminded me of a post you had, in fact the first, I ever read from you, The title of the post was "Did God Create Evil." In it there is a quote that said, "Evil is the absence of God." I think this is where we find ourselves today for the most part. Good post.
connie..thank you.
I think you're right. Many have no respect, or fear, of anything, including anything to do with God.
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