Injustice

Are we angry at injustices or just angry?

Not all anger is bad or needs to be managed.

Perhaps it needs to be directed in the right place!

I really seem to be angry a lot these days at injustices.

How about when a local newspaper runs an online article and everyone airs their opinion by commenting on the topic?

Some of the comments are downright wrong.

I know, they are just opinions and we all have them and are entitled to them.

I just cannot understand why people are quick to blame the victim of a crime rather than the person who committed the crime?

That makes me angry.

Here is an example of a recent news article that I saw on Facebook.

Two women at two different local gyms had their purses stolen out of their locked vehicles. Windows were shattered and personal possessions stolen.

People commented about how stupid the women were for leaving their purses in their vehicles.

People commented about how they would never leave their belongings in their vehicles.

People commented that the women were asking for trouble.

People had no empathy for the women who had their belongings stolen out of their locked vehicles that they owned.

None.

Should they have a left their purses in their locked vehicles? Probably not.

However, how is it their fault? They did not commit a crime.

People did not comment about the criminals who smashed windows and stole things that did not belong to them. Things that someone else had worked for.

That’s a smaller injustice in the grand scheme of things but, what about the bigger injustices?

What about people who are murdered. People like my Son?

There was no article in our local paper, only in a newspaper where he lived in Philadelphia.

It was a generic article with mistakes. It said my son’s name, age, that he was stabbed, that he died, and that he was visiting Philadelphia, ( he was not visiting, he lived there) and that he was not a student at Temple University.

Why mention that he was not a Temple University student?

What was the point of mentioning that?

What if he would have been a Temple University student?

Would that have changed the course of events that night?

What about the man who allegedly killed him? He was captured and arrested 3 months after he allegedly murdered my Son.

That was never in the paper.

Maybe that’s the way it goes in Philadelphia. The city of brotherly love…

There was brotherly love there that tragic night. Brotherly love between my son’s and their friends before and during their walk down the Philadelphia street, brotherly love between my boys as my oldest son dying and my younger son could only watch and be there for him. As traumatic as that was for Jami, he was the last person Billy saw before he took his last breath here and his first breath in Heaven.

God is healing Jami. He is stronger and his heart of gold is growing even bigger and the depth of his maturity is very evident since this senseless tragedy. It has not been without tears and agonizing pain but, he is on the road of healing. I am so proud of him and Billy would be too. Their three friends, Zack, Alex and Sebastian were there that fateful night too, and they loved my boys like family.

Where I live, articles from other newspapers in other states make our local news all the time.

Maybe it was a good thing that an article was not written or printed.

The comments I’ve read in similar news articles regarding the murdered and the murderer are absolutely ignorant and disturbing.

Somehow the victim ( although I detest that word ) ends up being blamed. As though they asked to be murdered.

They were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That is just one example.

In the United States of America, do we not have the right to walk down any public street?

See what we do? We blame the victim.

Comments like that, make me angry. I believe that is what is called righteous anger.

Anger is actually an emotion that God put on the inside of us when he created us in His image.

Anger is not wrong or bad in and of itself, it depends on who or what it is directed at.

I got angry when I read those comments blaming the women for leaving their purses in their vehicles. I commented on that post because I was so angry.

In a nutshell, my comment, that was directed towards the other people whose comments blamed the women,, said that if chose to be stupid enough to commit a crime, I hope they would be my jury!

I believe the injustices that we see in this country start on a smaller scale like that, and escalate with bigger and bigger issues.

My son was stabbed to death so maybe my stance on stricter gun laws is irrelevant.

Just let me throw this out there…

If my son would have been shot instead of stabbed, I still would not support stricter gun laws.

The alleged murderer who stabbed my son did have a criminal record regarding guns. Not gun violence, but charges relating to guns.

The night Billy died, I did not know this. I did not know anything about who had killed my boy. He was a stranger to all of us.

The FIRST words out of my mouth after I realized my Billy had died and my other Son Jami had been with him,as well as their 3 friends were “at least the guy didn’t have a gun or he could have killed Jami too, he could have killed them all.”

Should we ban knives?

That is ludicrous!

It is a heart issue….

There is ALWAYS a why behind the what.

The injustices are many.

People are wronged by other people all the time.

The elderly, like my Father, are taken advantage of because they may have retirement saved up. People will try different ways to take every penny they are worth.

It is harder to fight against injustices as you get older and people know that. The elderly become easy targets.

As I said, I find myself getting angry at injustices, especially as I get older.

I find that I tolerate less and less or maybe it is because I see it more and more.

Perhaps my perspective has changed since my son died. Maybe I care even more than I did before.

I want to be a voice for people or help them to understand that it is okay to speak up and use their voice.

Not in a mean, hateful way but in a true, just and righteous one.

Injustices are everywhere.

We all have a choice.

Will we look the other way? Or will we use our voice and make a difference no matter how big or small.

When the opportunity arises, let’s choose to boldly do what is right.  We can have a ripple effect that can touch one heart at a time.