Now Cleveland

Wow.  It has certainly been a spring of horrors -- one right after the other.  The Goznell trial, the Arias trial, the Boston Marathon bombings and now the Cleveland revelations.

And they all have one major thing in common -- a total disregard for human life. 

I bet you remember when Amanda Berry went missing.  They looked everywhere for her, especially since she was a responsible girl who was simply heading home from her job at Burger King.  Burger King gave it that, "It could happen anywhere," feeling.  When Gina Dejesus went missing, it certainly seemed suspicious, and apparently Cleveland detectives thought so too.  But where were the girls?  Were they in the same house the whole time?  Over the next weeks and months we'll learn a great deal more about their ordeal, their humiliations, and their treatment.

We still don't know all of the details of their nightmare, but the school bus driver who took Amanda Berry and probably fathered her six-year-old daughter didn't spend all of his time at home.  He went out to karaoke bars for goodness sake.  And during that whole time even when he called police about a street fight in front of the home, he apparently didn't talk about anything that led others to question his involvement in anything so sinister.  And that is fairly remarkable because it is usually loose lips that lead police to people like this guy.

The neighbors who helped Amanda Berry get out of the house are the kind of neighbors folks ought to have.  And she was absolutely frantic to get out before he got home.  If I think about it, I can feel a taste of panic she must have felt.  It's a little like what I used to feel when my brother chased me up the steps.  I just couldn't get my legs to go fast enough because adrenalin was flooding my nerve pathways.

The three brothers used the girls for a bit more than 10 years!  Jodi Arias apparently saw her boyfriend as a possession and when he showed interest in someone else, she took care of it, and so it certainly wasn't love.  Goznell would argue that he "helped" the poor women who found their way to his clinic, but the one he helped most to the tune of more than $1 a year was himself.  So he used the women and their situations to pad his own pocket.  The Boston Marathon bombers used the spectators and bystanders to make a political statement; they were expendable for the cause. 

I have to admit that I watch Criminal Minds.  Not for the gore or anything like that, but more because of the analysis of criminals which I find fascinating.  What motivates killers to do what they do?  And sometimes I've thought that Criminals Minds went a little too far in the show in terms of believability, but now that they've found Amanda Berry after 10 years, I'm not sure any plot they come up with is over the top.

A referee is hit by a soccer player in Utah and dies of the trauma.  Another complete lack of regard for another person.  Another demonstration of lack of impulse control.

Where is our society going?  The Beatles song, "I wanna hold your hand," seems so nice, so innocent, doesn't it?  Don't you ever think to yourself -- I'm worried about all of this -- but then in the next instant you admit that you don't have a clue as to what to do about it?  Mother Teresa answered a questioner once who asked her, "Mother Teresa, how do you know who to help first?"  And she replied, "Help who is in front of you."  We can all do a little bit of that, can't we? 

The old song, "They'll know we are Christians," tells us that we should stand out because of our love for others.  That's what is in front of us each and every day.  Love others and love will lead us down the right path, the one that leads us straight to God.  Fight the good fight; run the race.