#everylifehasvalue, Part 2

“ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Five people died in several shootings over the weekend in St. Louis City.

Someone shot and killed a 35-year-old man around 4:00 pm Sunday. That was at Newstead and St. Louis Avenue. Witnesses told police that the shooter rode away on a bicycle.

Earlier Sunday, a 16-year-old girl died in a shooting on Morganford avenue in south St. Louis.

A 39-year-old man was killed on Minnesota Avenue.

Police found two men shot to death inside a vehicle on Maple Avenue in north St. Louis.”

With the current focus on crime and police and the focus on the value of human life,  my attention has been turned to the increasing amount of murders in our city and in cities across the country. I just read that Chicago had one of the worst 24 hour periods for murders with 18 people dead. On Memorial Day weekend, St Louis had 9 shootings with 4 deaths. The news quote above is from the 1st weekend in June, so the pattern of shootings and death is continuing as we enter summer.

What bothers me the most about these shootings and deaths is that the individuals are never named. Certainly their families know, but the rest of the community is never informed unless the victim is a child or is in some way ‘famous.’ An example is the recent murder during a riot of a retired police captain, 77 year old David Dorn. A wonderful man, well respected and kind. He was helping guard a friend’s pawn shop when looters broke in and killed him. In his case there was film that captured photos of the looters and killer.  They have been identified and charged. Most of the other murder cases will never be solved because there were either no witnesses or the people who know what happened won’t come forward. Snitches get stitches the saying goes. I can’t say I would be able to come forward with evidence if I thought I would become the next victim, or maybe someone in my family would be killed in retaliation.

But, it continues to bother me that I will never know anything about these murder victims. People who may have been just regular people with families, jobs, churches, friends, activities they enjoyed. Life just snuffed away, and no justice for them or their families. Mothers, fathers, aunties, spouses, sisters, brothers, children, mourning the loss of their loved ones and maybe thinking no one else cares.

As a society, we need to care about these nameless victims and their families to help end the senseless murders. I’m reminded of the question: if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound? These murders should echo loud and long and shake the foundations of what we have come to take as normal. It should never be normal to take another human life or harm another person.