I
saw a poster today for iPledge, a Women Against Abuse
public-awareness campaign. Campaign materials challenge “everyday
Philadelphians” to speak up when they see or hear domestic violence in the
community and to “create a peaceful and safe environment” in their own homes. The
campaign was started in 2008 but seems particularly timely considering recent news
reports of Kansas City Chiefs' Jovan Belcher’s murder-suicide.
It’s
natural for people to ask “why?” and “what if?” at times like this. Brady
Quinn, the team’s quarterback, stated that the tragic events should make us
question whether relationships in the digital age are too shallow to facilitate
really getting to know someone and perhaps providing help when needed. “We live
in a society of social networks, with Twitter pages and Facebook, and that’s
fine, but we have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends,
and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and
other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in
front of us," he said.
Jason Whitlock wrote that our “gun
culture” was partly to blame. He stated “Our … culture simply ensures that more
and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy…”
The
cousin of victim Kasandra Perkins, who was Belcher’s girlfriend and the mother
of his infant daughter, is quoted as saying that the relationship
between Belcher and Perkins was “strained,” but I haven’t read anything that
suggests Belcher had a history of committing domestic abuse. However, there’s
no question that this was an act of domestic violence. Had someone in Belcher’s
circle “taken the pledge,” would it have mattered? Exactly what is the key to preventing domestic abuse?
I’d really like to know, because stories of domestic abuse make me mad, really mad, and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this emotion.
I can’t imagine what Belcher’s mother, who witnessed the murder, is feeling right now. These things shouldn’t happen. I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know me, but I will pray for her and other victims of domestic violence, and I will make the pledge, because I have to do something, and at least this is a start.
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