A Boise mass stabbing left nine people hurt, including six children, after a man attacked a 3-year-old’s birthday party on Saturday, June 30, at an apartment complex near West State Street and Wylie Lane. Four of the victims were critically injured.
I don’t know if I successfully communicate this on my blog, but I do try to understand people who aren’t like me. I may not always agree with them, but I want to know where they’re coming from. After all, I’m not the sole source of human knowledge, and I’m not the ultimate moral and ethical authority in the universe. I suppose my efforts are wasted, at least with a few folks who really, really need the world to be polarized, and if you aren’t like them, you’re evil. Nevertheless, I do want to get some sort of comprehension about people, even those who (probably) hate me.
This stuff like this happens and it sucks all of the hope out of the room. Really, I’m suffocating.
A 30-year-old guy was staying in an apartment complex in Boise, Idaho near where I live. He’s from Los Angeles, and I can’t really glean from the news stories why he was here in the first place. Apparently, there was some sort of trouble with the apartment manager and/or tenants, and he was asked to leave.
So what is his response? He gets a knife and, targeting a child’s birthday party, stabs nine people, including the birthday girl who was turning three. She was flown to Salt Lake City for treatment and just died of her injuries.
A three-year-old little girl is dead and for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
The suspect is in custody and being held without bail. The victims were all recent immigrants from Ethiopia, Iraq, and Syria. All they wanted was to escape the violence of their countries and make a new life here in the U.S. This guy (I won’t honor him by posting his name or photo) took away the hope they found here.
Every time something like this happens, my faith in humanity diminishes just a little bit more, I become more cynical, and I become more like the pundits on social media who demand the (metaphorical) heads of their enemies on a platter just because they dared to disagree with them.
I know we live in an evil world and human nature isn’t really a great nature. We have to work hard to overcome the lowest levels of who we can be. Apparently, this person didn’t feel like working that hard and now a three-year-old girl is dead.
My granddaughter turned three last week.
I don’t know what to say. I don’t like people very much right now.
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I feel like that all the time on Twitter and elsewhere now. I am very open minded but I just want to grab people and start slapping them silly when they try to convince people it has always been this way. It hasn’t. This extreme hatred toward other cultures and ideas is not new but it has never been accepted. Even in our darkest days we were not this way. Yes a very small number of people did horrible things based on race, but in every state? In every city? People stoke the embers to ensure the flames continue. These really are insane times we are living in. It didn’t have to be this way though, but the person with the most power to bring us together has only proved to be the one throwing more wood on the fire.
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The news articles I’ve read doesn’t make it clear why the attacker targeted that group. Also, if you click the link to the news story, you’ll discover that the suspect isn’t what most people would expect him to be. However, what he did was hateful and vile. I’m in somewhat of a better mood now than when I wrote this, especially after reading this quote: “The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them.” -Anonymous
I spent hours lying awake in bed stewing in all of the negativity there is in the world, but that’s not all we have in the world.
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It is a small world after all as my granddaughter turned three two weeks ago as well. We had wanted to have a day at Chucky Cheese BUT (and I hate to say it) it’s just not safe out in public these days – and at home doesn’t fair much better.
It’s a sad day for the family of the three year old… it’s a sad day for all.
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I agree, but as I just mentioned to Haunted Wordsmith, it’s also important to focus on the positives in life, which is tough to do when you consume a steady diet of news and social media. Without that, then we’d all lose hope.
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This is a truly tragic story. This guy was obviously mentally unstable and I don’t know if anything could have been done to prevent this from happening, but I can how being exposed to this kind of senseless inhumanity can turn one’s hear to stone.
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I don’t think we’re getting all the facts as the police are still investigating, but nothing excuses this sort of act. That said, we can’t let people like this taint our view of life and I’m trying to struggle back out of the pit this news has put me in.
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My heart goes out to the family of this little girl and all whose lives are touched by her story.
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Thanks, Sue.
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One must wonder if this kind of thing represents the behavior of “humanity” in the days of Noa’h, when it was deemed by HaShem the Creator that virtually all of it deserved to be eliminated. Or perhaps it might be more localized, as “in the days of Lot” (viz: Lk.17:28-30). Or perhaps it could be localized even more if some deterrent could be applied such as sure and swift punishment of evildoers. Maybe a society with a working system of moral instruction and law enforcement and administration of justice could prevent such atrocities.
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I know that Judaism views human nature as essentially good, but with guys like this in the world, I sometimes find that difficult to believe.
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With you on this.
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Thanks.
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I really didn’t want to “like” this post… it is so filled with sadness and hurt. I hear your pain, and do “get it”. I live in a complex that is home to many immigrants (hope I got that spell right). Every day I see the fear in their eyes…especially when they first move in. And over time, I see that fear slowly, ever so slowly fade into a sometimes smile or a simple ‘good morning’… I’ve learned to say that in several languages this past two years we’ve been here. Anyway, just the idea that anyone would harm one of my neighbors turns my gut. ICE has come through several times. I’ve seen families torn apart first hand. It SUCKS beyond words and really pisses me off! Maybe i see it even more so because of my heritage, but I like to think that I see it more from my heart. We should all care for one another, even if we’re different. We CAN find a common ground… smiles are universal, hello (as in greeting) is universal. I do agree, James, all the violence really does attempt to suck the life right out of us… maybe it’s that way to open our eyes and our hearts to what is right and good in this world… for, as Auntie Tetee was saying last night during prayers, “If there were no evil in this life, how would we be able to see the good.” I will hold you up in prayers for your spirit, James. To the ONE who knows the answers that we cannot comprehend.
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Thanks, Jelli. I’m trying to be more optimistic this morning as perhaps my wee bit of flash fiction has expressed.
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I hope for you it is a better day, really. I’ll go out and find the flash for a good read. Then, I’m off to someplace far away from fireworks and neighbors with their explosives. PTSD does not like this holiday.
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Thanks. Be safe.
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I’m nervous for today. The fourth of July-how can we celebrate freedom when it is limited?
Thinking of you, my friend-
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It’s never about the world the way it is, but about the ideals we hold to be true within each of us. Thinking that the current American President is the source of limiting freedoms means we don’t have a clear view of history. Thanks, Kris. A Happy Fourth to you and yours.
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That’s how I felt, this year, Kris. And Fourth of July is a big deal in my family (including in my own mind). The day after the 4th, I encountered a young veteran at a bar (hipster restaurant combo). Poor kid; he clearly had PTSD and lots of regret… not to mention wonder over what he signed himself up for as a teen.
It was reported to me that the local fireworks celebration had many immigrants in attendance. That’s nice, anyway. When one of my sons attended the local middle school (many years back now), he was harassed for making friends with immigrants. He hated that and returned to home-schooling.
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He (that son) now lives in New Zealand.
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I live in a fairly rich, white [other than the educated immigrants and only a few black families] neighborhood. One of my other sons and I are choosing an old home in the city instead.
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