Emily
Emily
Jul 23, 2017 · 1 min read

I think one of the reasons we do this — we say “but she was a good person!” — is to highlight the death as a mistake. (The other narrative “well, s/he was doing something wrong, or something not 100% right” has a similar function.) This allows us to function in an absolutely horrific world. If we believe that somehow, if the world had seen she was a good person, she’d be alive — she deserves to be alive — maybe we’re safe from the rampant, unfair, illogical, senseless death that fills the periphery of our lives (until it fills the whole vision).

How many “good people” have to die for us to realize the problem isn’t the people that are dying — it’s the system that is doing the killing?

    Emily

    Written by

    Emily

    prof, writer, hockey fan, cat owner.