Violence Often Has Anonymous Victims

Oscar Pistorius has been in the news a lot over the last couple of years. He is an athlete from the country of South Africa. He received international attention for participating in the four hundred meter track event in the 2012 Olympic Games held in London.

This in itself was not what made Pistorius famous.

His fame came from the fact that he participated in the Olympics after both of his legs had been amputated when he was a mere 11 months of age. He ran in the Olympics with the use of prosthetic legs and feet. Though Pistorius did not medal in the games he has won a number of gold medals over the years in the Paralympic Games for physically challenged athletes.

Unfortunately these accomplishments are not what has brought about Pistorius’ most recent media attention. On Valentine’s Day Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius girlfriend, was murdered in Pistorius’ home. Pistorius admits that he fired the fatal shots but claims he thought there was an intruder in his home and he was acting in self defense.

Pistorius has been charged with murder. Last week he was released on bond in accordance with South African law. It has subsequently been revealed that the chief investigator in the case has had legal issues himself. On Sunday, Pistorius’ brother Carl was charged with “culpable homicide” in the death of a woman in an automobile accident. The charge would be similar to “vehicular homicide” in this country.

The case of Pistorius has attracted world wide publicity. Meanwhile, last year in Detroit, 411 persons were murdered. That means more often than every day in Detroit last year someone was murdered. Needless to say none of the 411 murder victims in Detroit received the attention that Ms. Steenkamp’s murder has created.

In Chicago over 500 persons were murdered last year. Again this averages to at least one person being murdered every day in Chicago last year. Again it is also needless to say but the fact remains that none of the Chicago murder victims have received the attention of the South African murder case.

I could do the same type comparison for many of the urban areas of our nation. The story would be the same everywhere and that is that there are countless unknown folks whose death has not attracted the attention of the Pistorius-Steenkamp case.

I say none of this to mitigate the tragedy of what has taken place in South Africa. Whether Mr. Pistorius is guilty or not the sad truth is that a human being, a child of God, needlessly lost her life.

Yet, let us not forget those that needlessly lose their lives every day. Most of them are not famous, or have their lives taken by famous persons. Many of them are anonymous to the larger world. Yet, every one of them is loved by friends, family members, and most of all by God.

Jesus taught us that “even the hairs of [our heads] are all counted.” (Matthew 10:30 NRSV) Now granted, counting the hair on the heads of some folks isn’t all that difficult. Yet, what cannot be missed is the fact that God takes a personal interest in the lives of each of us. God cares deeply about your life and mine, whether we are famous or not.

There was great sadness in the eyes of God on the day of that murder in South Africa. However, there is sadness everyday in the eyes of God when one of his children lifts his or her hand to commit an act of violence against another of his children.

While we will no doubt continue to follow the Pistorius-Steenkamp case with morbid fascination, let us not forget the unknown folks who lose their lives every day at the hands of inexcusable violence. For it is that every life that is taken is the life of a precious child of God.