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OP/ED: Time for some perspective around the robberies

Kyra Hoggan
By Kyra Hoggan
April 30th, 2014

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.

This post was syndicated from https://castlegarsource.com
Categories: GeneralOp/Ed

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