Mar 08
Heffalumpagus
Thank you, gran, for causing my new addiction to watching the news every time I settle myself down at my computer. Thank you, MSNBC, for making me even more (and rightfully so) paranoid. Yes, I am. Though many of you would think that wasn’t even possible, I am.
Since Wednesday I’ve been following the cases of the Auburn student Lauren Burk, 18, who was found shot to death on Tuesday, and UNC student body president Eve Carson, 22, found dead early Wednesday morning. Every time I hear these stories, I always shudder. So young, so vulnerable. Just like me. And then you usually hear that it was the girl’s ex-boyfriend, or a husband she was in the middle of an ugly divorce with, or some someone they knew, and you say a possibly inappropriate “thank you” for it being something other than a random act of violence that could happen to just anyone.
And then you have cases like these two girls. The reporter on MSNBC this morning put it so painfully clear, in the words of my own fear:
“So often, the victim knew the assailant. But this proves that it could happen to anyone just going about their business. We all tend to be sadly happy when we found out the girl was killed by her boyfriend or some relationship she was involved in. But when you have random crimes like this, when it could be a method for crime in the future for another criminal, because we know criminals like to copy each other, we get frightened. We think that next time we drive it might be us or someone we love.”
Mhmm, thank you. Thank you for proving that I do have reason to be scared every time I leave my house, or walk to my car in the empty parking lot after I close the store, or approaching my house at 3 am in the morning on my dark street. Every time I start to feel the fear rising in me I think, “Oh that’s just silly. That’s not going to happen to me, here, in my little suburban town.” But I know that Eve and Lauren both thought that, too. They were as innocent as I am. They had aspirations just like I do. But their’s were cut short.
Be safe, ya’ll. It’s real. And keep their family and friends in your thoughts.
End Note: Two weeks ago, my neighbor 4 houses down was tied up, held at knifepoint, and robbed by 3 foreign black men for over an hour at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Hello rational fear x 10.
Comments (View)