You Are Stabbed Too

Inside a passenger van bound home, I overheard two persons talking about someone being stabbed to death. The conversation was unclear since I got a lot of things to think in line with the hosting of our division for the regional athletic meet. It was when I reached school when I heard about the gruesome murder of a medical technologist in a neighboring town straight from the cousin who is a teacher in our school.

My mind worked so fast I forgot to console the cousin since I was engulfed with anger. I personally do not know the victim but to realize that such evil exists in our area is a thought so repulsive I wanted to yell to the wall. Who gives someone the right to kill? Is there a valid reason to stab somebody almost twenty times? Of course we could think about insanity and drug abuse but again, how could one explain these factors to the grieving family members?

When I continued to fume inside, I then overheard someone blaming the victim for proceeding to an area as the rendezvous. He was, I inferred, a member of the LGBT community. Good thing I was distracted by a Grade 7 student who has mild dyslexia. If not, I could have retorted to that comment and gave a lecture on bigotry and the effects of prejudice to a community!

I toiled so hard and learned a lot from my graduate school thesis which is all about violence on women and children. I am an advocate of anti-trafficking on women and children and I believe that violence and gender bias are things which stem from hate. The thesis eventually landed as one of the best in the school for that year and received commendations from the Commission on Higher Education.

Yes, I carefully immersed myself into hate crimes and one of the things these perpetrators do to conceal their inferiority is violence. Studies reveal that husbands who beat their wives have childhood issues and anger towards their mothers. Those who find children as their prey are those who hunger for power and weak enough to deal with "stronger" ones that they settle for those they consider weaker than them! And of course, those who beat and kill gays violently are gays themselves. They are so disgusted with their secrets they need to kill someone who mirrors them! There is even a study conducted to violent men which is linked to the size of their penis. Teeny-weenies are those who are violent! Pathetic.

I have always known that this plight is a lonely one. I often give time to those mentally-challenged individuals. I befriend the Mamanwa. In the school where I am serving, I am close to those students who are bullied and have physical impairment. Others would raise their eyebrows and consider it as an eccentricity. But there is nothing wrong with empowering people who are victimized by the self-righteous and sick individuals.

With this incident in our society, we must be angry. Jesus was angry enough to kick and slam his hands on the tables of those gamblers and selfish thugs inside the temple. With such anger, we will be propelled to find justice and disallow violence to thrive in our midst.

NOBODY DESERVES TO BE MURDERED VIOLENTLY. There are times when we blame the victim for his or her mistakes (i.e. Sakto da na tagkulata nan bana kay nagger sija! Amo na nabono kay unoy pagkinadto-kadto!) but what if you are the victim of this? Or your son/daughter? Sakto da?

Violence on women, children, differently-abled persons, indigenous people, LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders) is evil. It is as evil as violence on the so-called normal people.

Let us discuss these things among our friends. Our behaviors and actions are always tainted with what we feel. Mental illnesses come from thwarted feelings translated into actions. Let us start spreading stuff to stop violence. It is difficult but it is worth the effort.