[Vision2020] Some food for thought . . .

Moscow Cares moscowcares at moscow.com
Mon Jan 22 02:48:25 PST 2018


Courtesy of today’s (January 22, 2018) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with an appreciative thank you to Lee Rozen and Murf Raquet.

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Too many questions, few easy answers

By Lee Rozen and Murf Raquet, for the editorial board

Editor's note: Five years ago, the community was trying to make sense of the deaths of two University of Idaho students. One took his own life, and the second died of exposure. Just as we are this week following the death of Washington State University student Tyler Hilinski, many were left wondering what could have been done to prevent the senseless tragedies.

In the aftermath of tragedies, like the recent elementary school killings, questions are asked about how those involved reacted to the events. Second-guessing becomes a ritual in the media, with myriad pronouncements that predict different outcomes. "If I had been there, I would have" the refrains start.

Good, bad or simply crazy, such fanciful ramblings do little to help the healing or prevent similar events from happening.

The truth is you don't know what you will do in a situation until you are face-to-face with it.

But in some cases, tragic events can be altered with some basic humanity.

The unrelated deaths of two University of Idaho students this past weekend has awakened the community to how quickly things can change.

One student, an 18-year-old man, killed himself with a handgun in his dormitory room. Moscow police had earlier confiscated a gun from the student's room, but he had another they didn't know about. Despite the gun ban on campus, the young man's death has started a conversation that may never conclude.

Not long after, another 18-year-old man died from exposure under a bridge after a series of events that took him miles, and hours, from where he should have been.

They are all our children, the students in this community. Not your children, not my children, all our children.

We must care about, and for, them.

We must make sure that another one of them doesn't die because we are too scared, or too surprised, or too unsure to do the right thing when one of them shows up at our house needing help. Needing help even if they aren't seeking it.

One of them will show up at our house one night. It's not uncommon in this town. Some of us - but not most - have had that experience already. No matter what we did, it probably didn't end as badly as it did for Joseph Wiederrick last Sunday.

So, let's talk among ourselves about what is the best thing to do. We don't want to put ourselves in danger, but neither do we want the death of another on our conscience, a death we could have prevented.

So, talk about it at your Kiwanis meeting, at your bowling league, in your Sunday School class, at your garden club meeting, with the person next to you at the gym. Talk about calling 911, about providing warm clothing on a cold night, about staying safe and about showing compassion.

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Take care of yourselves . . . and each other.

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" 
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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