pointing fingers back

It was one of those days at the news office. Our front page story told of an alleged domestic violence case where the victim was forced into a hole in the ground and covered with dirt up to her neck. The Associated Press wire added our story to their collection of shockingly, inhumane behavior reports.
In Louisville, Ky., a 7-year-old boy with a rare medical condition that requires full time medical supervision was hospitalized after his step-father allegedly fed him vodka through a medical feeding tube. The child arrived at the hospital with a 0.59 percent blood-alcohol level — almost double the amount considered fatal in adults and more than seven times the level at which a person is considered drunk.
In Chicago, a driver of a van apparently lost control. The van jumped the curb and hit three pedestrians. Witness Taquita Mixon saw five or six men pull the driver and passenger out of the van and then punch, kick and beat them – at times with bricks – before the victims collapsed to the ground.
“They didn’t have a chance. It was a brutal beat-down.” Mixon said. Anthony Stuckey, 49, and Jack Moore, 62, died from multiple injuries and blunt trauma. The day after the incident two of the three women struck by the van were listed by the hospital in fair condition; the third was in critical condition. Detectives were busy piecing together what happened before charging anyone with the deaths.
In Cleveland, Ohio, Scott Whitney, 36, pleaded guilty to child endangerment after he beat his 9-year-old daughter after his four children saw “Monsters, Inc.” with their grandfather first instead of with him. When asked if they had seen the movie, the children lied to their father because they were afraid of what he would do to them. It was only after Whitney took the children to see the film that he learned from his pre-schooler that they had already seen it. On the way home he began slapping his daughter; at home, he spanked her with a wooden paddle. The father went to jail for three years. The children now live with their mother.
In Boston, James Allen, 61, suffered a heart attack on a commuter train and had to wait about 20 minutes for medical attention – while the train made its regular stops – before he was taken off and sent to the Boston Medical Center. He died in the emergency room.
The crew had asked commuters over the public address system if anyone had medical expertise, passengers said. Passenger Dale Boam of Natick said when the train pulled into West Newton, passengers asked a conductor if an ambulance would be there.
“The conductor said, ’No, they can’t get down the stairs,”’ Boam said.
Newton Police Captain Michael Castro said that he has never heard of a problem with access at either of the Newton stations. The railroad managers said they have a clear policy for medical emergencies: stop at the next station and wait for an ambulance.
Part of the reason news stories such as these make the wire is their shock value and the comfort that in comparison with these heinous actions, our own flaws pale. It is a comfortable position – unless you go back and reread the reports with the warning and observation from 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 in mind: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.”
We all fail to meet God’s expectation. At some point we each are capable of an equally heinous action. However, some, when faced with similar circumstances have clung to the promise found in the rest of verse 13, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
It is easy to point a finger at the inhumane behavior in another – as we conveniently forget that when we point out another’s horror, four fingers point back at ourselves.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)