We need more empathy for others
I don’t know if you have been following the trial of Lindsey Clancy in Plymouth, Mass. She is being tried for the killing of her three daughters. It has generated a lot of publicity and, not to be unexpected, a polarized public response.
It is indeed a tragic story, on multiple fronts. I remember all too well my wife and I trying to console an inconsolable newborn. Fortunately, we had the necessary resources to fall back on, but placed in Clancy’s position, our outcome may have spun out, with a similar tragedy.
What makes Clancy’s story so sad was magnified by her multiple calls for help. People may have been hearing, but no one was “listening.” It is not relevant, that Clancy is a woman, or a labor and delivery room nurse; she shouldn’t expect to be treated differently.
Horrific things play out daily because people lack the resources, and necessary supports, to reduce the chances of such outcomes happening in the first place: A teenager involved in a gang killing due to peer pressure from his gang “family,” because he lacked a supportive family to nurture his development; or the mentally ill homeless woman, with no access to mental health treatments, savagely attacking someone in the community.
Rather than condemning these “bad actors,” we need a Jesus to remind us, “those without sin throw the first stone.” Rather than throwing stones, it might be more productive to support our professional agencies that can supply social, behavioral and psychiatric help.