People, Like You and Me
As we view the all too common scenario on a local news network of a high speed chase ending in an arrest, our eyes full of disdain for the criminal in the mug shot that flashes across the screen, I fear somehow we detach from the story as if these types of events only occur outside of our realm of being. Mystified by the reality of the events unfolding, we neglect the fact that the people committing these often destructive and treacherous acts, as alarming and disturbing as they may be, are still merely people like you and me. They are someone's son, grandson, nephew, or brother. They babbled in infancy, scraped their knee in adolescence, and endured the unrelenting trauma of teen angst. And quite possibly they held their mom's hand every Sunday morning on a cold wooden pew. We forget to consider all the events that might have taken place in such a person's life that lead them to this low point. Maybe they suffered great tragedy like the loss of a par...