A Reality Check

This morning when I checked my inbox at work, there was a message sent to the entire staff from our superintendent. It has affected me all day.

The father of three students who attend our school was heading home on Saturday when an altercation with four young men at the gate of his village resulted in his death. It has been reported that the young men were trying to enter the village and the guard on duty was doing his job by asking to see the driver's ID. When he did not present one, the father stepped in to explain how they needed to do so. Words were exchanged, followed by an angry tap on their car. The four men then jumped out of the car, chased down the father and stabbed him to death.

This has affected me not only because the village is just down the road from ours and not only because the father was American and the husband of a U.S. Embassy employee and not only because kids in my class were friends with his children and had obvious emotions about it today. This tragedy really made me ponder the value of life.

This killing was senseless. The father was American, an ex-Marine, a father and a husband, and quite possibly drunk and on his way home from the bar. The four men were Filipino, educated professionals driving a fancy car, apparently from well-to-do families. And they had a knife in their car. This incident was a wake-up call for me. It was an abrupt reminder that while this kind of crime could happen anywhere at any time, I am still a guest in this country which I do not fully understand and I am not immune. Do you know how many times I’ve been beside myself with road rage at the stupidity of some of the drivers here and have even caught up with a few to talk to them about their ridiculous ways? How many times I have strongly tapped a car that brushed too close while walking with Aiston in my arms or crossing the street at a crosswalk? How many times I’ve argued with the security guards on duty at one of the villages because they wouldn’t let me enter or leave a certain gate simply because, from my view, they wanted to exert what little control they had and remind me that I wasn’t a resident of that village and could only use the “visitor” gates? How many times I’ve complained, ridiculed and cursed some of the idiots in this country for their can’t-or-won’t-think-outside-the-box mentality? I will certainly think again. It’s just not worth it.

The four men were apprehended and are being charged with murder. Who knows what will happen, but I suspect that they may have chosen the wrong man to take their aggression out on. It seems to be that their pride was hurt and their solution was to get rid of the source of that hurt, permanently. The U.S. Embassy is involved and will see to it that justice is served, I guess. Meanwhile, the fact that these guys could just carry around a knife and whip it out and KILL someone with it is beyond me. The fact that they think they could get away with it by running off afterwards and the fact that they still probably think they can get away with it while they sit in jail and the fact that they actually might get away with it because of the corruption here floors me, too. What is wrong with humanity when we have the gift of words and we can’t even express ourselves in rational ways? When we think money equals power and worse, protection from having to face the consequences of our actions? When we disregard people who most likely have positive intentions? 

I don't know what was said or how it was said or even why the father chose to get involved. But none of that matters because now he is gone. Forever. Over something so trivial.