Trigger Warning: Murder
This is our day, when we mourn for those who were murdered by their caretakers for being like us. This is our day, when we try to remind others of what we can never forget. This is our day, when we remind people of what they should never have forgotten: Our fallen fellows, so often erased from the story of their own murders.
It's portrayed as not being about us, but about our presumably abled caretaker, who was a saint and was simply overwhelmed. We were, of course, hard to deal with, and we who remain are reassured that it would never happen to us, that we are not like the one who was murdered, that taking our lives would not be considered merciful.
And if we tell them all the reasons we are like the victim, we are met with only pity and disbelief, not understanding for the terror we feel as we mourn, the terror that we could be next, the worry of which of us will be next.
Today is our day, when we mourn together. We remember. George Hodgins, Faryaal Akhter, Zain Akhter, Daniel Corby, Melissa Stoddard, Laura Cummings, Ajit Singh, Zahra Baker, Naomi Hill, Tracy Latimer, Katie McCarron, Betty Gagnon. More that we know, far more that we never hear about, that were marked down as accidents, not murders.
Mother Jones said "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." Today we mourn for our dead, and from our community we draw the strength that helps us fight for the living.
This is our day, when we mourn for those who were murdered by their caretakers for being like us. This is our day, when we try to remind others of what we can never forget. This is our day, when we remind people of what they should never have forgotten: Our fallen fellows, so often erased from the story of their own murders.
It's portrayed as not being about us, but about our presumably abled caretaker, who was a saint and was simply overwhelmed. We were, of course, hard to deal with, and we who remain are reassured that it would never happen to us, that we are not like the one who was murdered, that taking our lives would not be considered merciful.
And if we tell them all the reasons we are like the victim, we are met with only pity and disbelief, not understanding for the terror we feel as we mourn, the terror that we could be next, the worry of which of us will be next.
Today is our day, when we mourn together. We remember. George Hodgins, Faryaal Akhter, Zain Akhter, Daniel Corby, Melissa Stoddard, Laura Cummings, Ajit Singh, Zahra Baker, Naomi Hill, Tracy Latimer, Katie McCarron, Betty Gagnon. More that we know, far more that we never hear about, that were marked down as accidents, not murders.
Mother Jones said "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." Today we mourn for our dead, and from our community we draw the strength that helps us fight for the living.
Well said but one minor correction. That's Daniel Corby with a 'C'. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis past week was also the 5th Angelversary of the death of Calista Springer.
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