Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

On August 22, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, 23, was stabbed by DeCarlos Brown Jr., 34, a career criminal, as she commuted to work at a local pizza place on the light rail system in Charlotte, NC. Iryna came to the United States to escape the horrors of war in her own war-torn birthplace, which has resulted in the deaths of more than half a million Ukrainians, literally wiping out a generation of young men. She came to the US to seek safety, but instead of safety, she found death.

I could not stop thinking about this story after it broke. The CCT video cam footage of her stabbing was horrible and difficult to watch. What the world saw was a young woman, innocently taking a seat on the train, absorbed in her smartphone, like many of us. Moments later, we witness the brutal stabbing from behind as the shock and incomprehension of what just occurred registers on her face as she looks up at her young attacker. After committing this cold and callous execution of a defenseless girl, Brown casually strolls away, blood dripping from the knife as he removes his bloody clothes, announcing to fellow passengers that “he got that white girl”.

The fact that a human being could perpetrate an act like this without provocation is almost unbelievable, yet we see an increasing number of attacks like this. Recall the young woman doused in gas and set aflame on a New York Subway just recently.

Even more troubling, if that is at all possible, is the reaction to the killing from the passengers on the train. Brown’s actions and departure following the killing were in full view of the three people immediately across from the seat that Iryna sat in. As she lay there crying and bleeding out, the other three did not even look in her direction. The one woman continued to scroll on her phone as if nothing had happened. Without even glancing at the dying girl, let alone offering assistance, she shouldered her purse and walked away. It took a full two minutes before anyone went to the dying girl’s aid. I wonder if her last thought was, Does no one care that I lie dying here alone? 

What has become of us as a people that we can gaze upon violence as if it were a TV drama? Why do many of us feel no empathy for the pain and suffering of others?

This question was asked by many in connection with the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. Charlie was a brilliant, self-educated debater, a deeply committed Christian, a husband and father of two children under the age of three. He invited dialogue with those who disagreed with his views and debated with them in a manner of grace and respect, even with those who did not reciprocate the same courtesy. Yet, a troubled, perverse young man thought that he had the right to kill Charlie Kirk because he disagreed with him.

We are seeing the fruits of the seed we have sown as a society. When we dehumanized the unborn child, when we called the right to abortion a civil liberty, when we celebrated that right via #shoutyourabortion, we devalued all human life.

If we cannot feel empathy and love for the most vulnerable among us, is it any wonder that we turn a blind eye to violence in our streets and the cries of those who lie dying?

*****

Image Credit: CHAT GPT image generator