Empathy

[There's a bit of graphic detail here. Please proceed at your own discretion.]

They found the body of a twenty year old girl near an irrigation ditch last Thursday. She'd been kidnapped the day before, then tortured, then killed.

I read it in a newspaper article Saturday afternoon, while my wife and I were having a late lunch. My mind didn't really process the information until 2 a.m. the following morning.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day. She was tortured.

The article stated that she was the daughter of one of the leaders of the New People's Army in the South. The family blamed the army. The army denied involvement. The mayor of Davao vowed to personally arrest the perpetrators. The NPA stated that they would launch no retaliatory attacks against the families of soldiers.

The facts seemed completely unrelated to the truth.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day. Her body showed signs of beating, stabbing, and laceration of her genitals.

Her mother asked: "Where is justice?"

Where is justice?

At mass today, the priest started his homily with a story: he related how impressed he was when he visited the convent run by a group of devout nuns: apparently they had moved into the convent - which would also house children and elderly in the care of the nuns - recently and had been shocked by the state of the comfort rooms - because they were too comfortable. So they had the comfort rooms changed, to be more in line with their teachings regarding the utility of suffering.

I almost walked out of the church.

I believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins. I do NOT believe, that the only way we get to be virtuous people is by actively seeking out nails to ram into our palms. Good can come out of suffering... but suffering MUST be alleviated whenever possible.

There are too many people suffering. Too many people willing to inflict it.

Who tortures a twenty year old girl for the sins of her father?

And what the hell can we do about it? Guy Davenport once said that "Distance negates responsibility." If so, knowledge can negate distance: That's the problem with the internet age. In a world of instant access to information and 24/7 news, every statistic can have a name, every name can have a face.

They found the body of a twenty year old girl the other day.

Steinem was right. Empathy is the most revolutionary of emotions.

Even when the same can never come close to the reality.