At the CNN center in Atlanta this week, an employee of the complex's hotel was dragged out by her hair by her gun-toting ex and then shot in the head just outside the CNN newsroom. Broad daylight. Multiple witnesses. She was in her early 20's, and pregnant.
Obviously, CNN covered the event with great detail on the day it happened, and the stories were filled with witnesses' first-hand accounts. Two things struck my attention: I only read about male witnesses, and each one of them hid or ran when he saw the situation. One reported the situation to a security guard, who shot and wounded the assailant, but only after the woman was fatally wounded if not actually dead.
If she hadn't been killed in such a dramatic way, I never would have known of her existence. But I've been mourning her this week nonetheless, and imagining her last minutes, as she struggled with her attacker, even using potted plants to her advantage as she was dragged off. And I imagine her desperatation as she saw men who could have saved her life--or at least tried--desert her instead.
I hope she didn't see those cowards as they crouched out of sight. I hope she didn't know that they refused to fight for her.
Part of me says that I've watched too many movies--too many examples of Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford saving the damsel-in-distress. But I think those movies exist because we wish that's the way the world was. Because that's how we know the world should be. Ideally, we'd have no bad guys, and no reason for distress. But in Atlanta this week there was a bad guy. And there was a damsel-in-distress, as well as her unborn child. But there was no hero, except perhaps for the security guard, who got there too late to matter.
9 years ago
2 comments:
this incident deeply disturbed me as well. we heard about it a lot-being so close to atlanta and all. it is a shame that noone stepped up to help her that day. depressing. thankfully, there ARE heroes in the world, evidenced by that New Yorker guy with the Playboy bunny hat who dove on top of a man who had fallen onto the track of an oncoming subway train due to a seizure...risking his life for a complete stranger because he felt it was the thing to do. and he was embarassed by all the publicity. ellen degeneres gave him a car on her show...which i think is terrific. acts of bravery and herosim should be rewarded.
playboy bunny hat? I think I remember hearing about this guy (and YES there are real heroes like him, and I should have given them credit in my post) but I didn't hear about the playboy bunny hat. I guess you mean a baseball hat with the logo, but when I first read your comment I was picturing the ears-on-a-headband. :) THAT would have been a sight!
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