Sad Truths

While I read the paper every day, cover to cover, I must admit, when a headline reads, "Girl Killed Outside Bar", I generally don't get past the headline. My husband and I have this theory that no good can come from being out late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. You hear about a car crash on the news, and more often than not, it happened at 2:00am or 3:00am. Also, more often than not, alcohol is also involved. Those of you who know me, know I enjoy my wine, but rarely do I drink at a bar, in the wee hours of the morning. It just seems like a recipe for trouble.
Last week, a young woman was brutally beaten in Santa Ana outside a restaurant/bar. I am sure these things happen all the time and don't always make the paper. What has caused this one to be so unsettling, for me, are two things. One, the terrible thing this girl did was photo bomb a group's picture. Photobombing, a new word that just became part of our society not long ago, is when you are about to take a photo and someone inserts themselves into the photo. Our family does it all the time to each other. It is kind of funny and kind of annoying, but worthy of a brutal beating?? How could her silly act have made the group so angry that they beat, punched and kicked her to death??? I cannot possibly wrap my head around these facts.
The second thing that I cannot understand is that this whole altercation took place with tons of people watching! Not one person tried to stop the group from beating this woman. In fact, they not only didn't try to stop it, many took the time to snap photos or video of the scene while it was happening!!! I bet many of them had it posted on Facebook before the beating was even over.
When did we become so desensitized to each other? When did getting a few "likes" on Facebook become more important than another human being? When did we become watchers of injustice, and our only thought was snapping a photo of it? When did such a level of violence not move us to action other than capturing it on our cell phone?
This young woman was someone's daughter, someone's granddaughter. I cannot even imagine the heartache this family must be feeling about now. Maybe she was a good person, maybe not. The fact remains, she was a person. How can we turn our backs on that fact?
Remember that old saying, "Take a picture. It last longer."? Well, in this case, I guess it is true. She is gone. The photos remain.
Such senseless sadness.