My Little Voice is Whimpering
My Little Voice is Whimpering
By IVY JACOBS
“JUST ASK ME”
Well, I don’t normally cover news beyond Clay County: Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, was an exception.
The first report was an Active Shooter at the Walmart on State Road 46, which is terrifying enough right now because I shop there. With a mass shooting possibly coming close to my home, my first reaction was to check where my family was.
My daughter was at work, Boogs was home with his dad, and my son called from Indy to see what was going on, before driving down, my husband was in another state working and the others I love were safe. Was it an overreaction? I don’t think so; I love my family - so no, I want them to be safe.
As information continued, coworkers and I kept track of what was happening. We followed the story because so many residents worked or shopped there. And they wanted to know what was happening.
The Terre Haute Police Department made its first official online post, so many people were upset. That’s when the calls and text messages started.
Within a couple of hours, numerous people had contacted me, furious over a lack of punishment for these two individuals.
One person said these two grown-ups were numbskulls. I couldn’t disagree, but as a journalist, I am not allowed to have a side when covering a story. I stay in the middle, even when I don’t like what I’m doing.
It was very hard not to be a curmudgeon and complain about this silly prank, with which three people didn’t see anything wrong with the timeliness.
Sure, going into a shopping mall dressed all in black, carrying what looked like a weapon, was just good fun. In case you don’t know what sarcasm is, reread that sentence.
It was the most disrespectful and terrifying display of foolishness, during a time when mass shootings are reported almost weekly.
Hundreds of families are grieving, because of a mass shooting that has taken their loved ones, from children to senior citizens.
One man I spoke with summed up how it felt to be pranked or violated by being involved in a “gangster” video:
“There are no consequences for doing wrong anymore. Some people don’t care how their actions will affect others. There were people there that ran for their lives. What if someone was hurt? What if they died? Would their family’s outrage be heard?
What if those doing the prank were killed? What would their families do?
Society, en mass, has lost the ability to know right from wrong.
No matter what the laws say, I’m afraid letting them go without punishment is the wrong message to send during this time.”
This was the calmest of the conversations I had throughout the rest of the week. By Saturday, people weren’t talking about it anymore.
And that society’s attention could easily be changed to the newest problems so quickly is extremely disturbing for me.
That quiet little voice in the back of my mind, the one that shouts warnings to me, I think it is sobbing at how gruesome the world appears.
- -- Posted by theffner on Fri, Aug 12, 2022, at 11:06 PM
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