Tragedy As A Tool For Empathy and Action
Don’t wait until something happens to you
August 18, 2021. A 6:00 a.m. text from my ex-wife.
“A student from Cleveland was killed in a shooting outside of our son’s school at 11:30 p.m. last night.”
My son attends a Jewish institution in seemingly calm, sunny, peaceful Denver, Colorado. Parents from around the country send their teenage boys to study there. Each one to become and grow into what in Yiddish is referred to as a mensch. The best translation… a kind, loving, compassionate man.
The headlines across Jewish news outlets worldwide reported the murder within hours. The Jerusalem Post. World Israel News. Israel National News. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Jewish News Syndicate. The list is long of all the reports of this one Jewish kid’s murder in little Denver, Colorado. This one Jewish life was so important to Jews worldwide.
The verdict is still out on whether the shooting was a targeted crime against Jews, but there were six gunmen (one potentially in custody) who literally chased the 19 year old kid when he ran, down an alley, into an area at the school, before shooting him three times in the stomach. This wasn’t some random drive-by — not that any killing would be ok.
