Love can kill.
Despite the hectic schedule of a medical student, I still find time to have one of my senses tune into the news channels. My eyes are focused on what I am reading and I am selectively listening to the news feeds on a local news channel. I would only look at the screen whenever I am on a break or if something unusual was being reported. However, what I've heard is not only unusual.
Just a week ago, an infuriated wife set out to kill her cheating husband and she chose to do it at a mall. Then, a few days ago, we've heard of another case, this time involving two gay teenagers who were termed as lovers doing the same thing. Two similar cases but was treated differently by the public.
On one hand, the action of the wife who was engulfed with concupiscence was not approved by the majority but was still given much leave for her situation. Perhaps it was because of pity or sympathy that somehow mitigated her murderous act but it does not take back the fact that she ended a life. On the other hand, the action of the homosexual teenager seemed to have elicited a lot of negative responses and no understanding at all from the public. First on the hot seat was the sexual preference of the teenagers before they thought of the lack of supervision in the parents' parts and the lack of security in the mall owner's part.
It's saddening how two very similar situations can be seen in two different lights just because of out culture and impulsivity. Somehow, a lot of factors could have come into play and should have been considered.
AGE
Has anyone considered the ages of the suspects? One was a minor who was termed by most ethical and legal premises as an individual who has yet to become fully knowledgeable and understanding of his or her actions and its consequences. the other one was an adult with a child or two whom she would have to support. I am not aware if there are any support groups like Gabriela backing her up or anything but if they were, I believe they were fighting for a wrong cause. I would have understood her actions and considered it IF she was being mistreated or abused in any way. But in the news reports, it seemed that she acted impulsively. She mentioned that she cannot bear with the situation of having to take care of her child all alone and that she was set to murder her husband and kill herself afterwards. I believe most support groups are their to empower people who are oppressed to take the right cause and fight for their rights. They are not there to encourage people to kill others. At any rate, have all measures been exhausted to make the relationship work or perhaps to terminate the relationship in a decent manner? If not, will killing another human being ever be a justifiable resort? It may be true that the suspect was engulfed with her emotions and passion but again that is really hard to prove unless you were there at the situation. Nonetheless, defined by the law, the wife was of LEGAL age and could be trusted to act according to moral norms. The child was not.
SEXUALITY
Somehow, it seems that being homosexual was deemed as an aggravating circumstance for this case. I have no discriminations for the homosexuals except when they invade too much of my space but I don't believe that being gay predisposes you to commit such a crime. The two situations happening in a narrow time difference would be a testament that LOVE and the inability to deal with love or the misconceptions of how love should be is the problem. It seems that it's more of a moral dilemma that we have to deal with in order to resolve the problem completely. The whole issue about homosexuality is a different issue and should not be injected to this case just because a homosexual was involved.
SECURITY
This seems to be one of the factors that cannot be excused at all. A vast majority spend their leisure time in malls which were considered to be a relatively safe place... until now. It is indeed undeniable that the lax security of the malls are one of the big factors that precipitated the crime. Fingers could either be pointed at the strictness of security guards or the lack of their number. Whatever it is, clearly something has to be done. Mall owners should take responsibility and increase the number of security personnel. At the same time, security agencies should also device a protocol of detecting dangerous weapons or paraphernalia which may be brought in to the malls. Whatever these mall owners or security personnel should do, they must do it at once and ensure that measures will be made.
PARENTAL SUPERVISION
Somehow, it may seem that this is only applicable for one of the situations. However, I recall in the news story that the wife entrusted her child to her mother. I don't have maternal instincts and I won't ever have one. But I would like to think that it should have kicked in at that instant. I cannot imagine a mother consenting her daughter to commit murder and suicide. Even if the suspect already had a mind of her own and can decide for herself, I believe that proper advice from her parents especially when traces or clues were apparent must be elicited. As for the teenager's case, the parents obviously lacked supervision and they admitted that. Hopefully, parents would be more weary of their children's activities and be more involved. Well, the right type of involved - not to the point of privacy invasion.
Many fingers have been pointed and whoever or whatever that can be blamed has been blamed. But in reality it's a mumbo jumbo of all these things. As I would always say, it's not pointing out who's responsible. It's taking responsibility to make sure that it would never happen again. All these factors have contributed to the situation - not just a single one. Whatever the root of cause could be, we should explore what can be done in order to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies and restore the safety and security we can enjoy in public places.
