OP/ED: Time for some perspective around the robberies
By Kyra Hoggan
I watch social media fairly carefully, and all the buzz right now is about the armed robbers. No one expected them to be a couple with three children (at least, no one I know).
Everyone’s all atwitter, and I know I should be working myself up to comment, but the truth is, I just don’t care.
Does my heart ache for them and their children? For sure. And the empathy I’ve seen expressed for them is certainly cool, all things told.
But I just can’t seem to get all lathered up over it – they made poor decisions for which they will now have to face the consequences, just like the rest of us.
I’ve made LOTS of poor decisions – as a member of the There-but-for-the-Grace-of-God Society, I’ve probably made more than my fair share. Luckily (for me) I’ve never backed those poor decisions up with firearms.
I don’t really care how the court situation evolves. I know it’s wrong to say so, but I really, really don’t care.
What I care about it that no one else will be threatened at gunpoint. I care that our police are no longer going to get beat up for not miraculously finding someone who left little by way of identification. I care that domestic violence is still rampant in our society and that our paramedics and teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. I care that people in my town are hungry. I care how my city spends its money and why.
I think this is one of those times where a taste for drama overcomes our genuine appetite for the important.
I don’t think the armed robbers will be an issue for us, moving forward – it seems very unlikely to me that either one is looking at a six-month slap on the wrist. This problem is solved, for most of the population, and we have larger issues to contend with.
Maybe I’m being too frank, but I think we should divert our attention away from this very sad situation, and back to the things that will shape our communities and our lives.
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