Injustice demands personal response

Assault in park confirms depravity of fallen world

Paul Bowers

10.8.07 Tagline: Pleading the First

Occasionally, life takes a turn that serves only to remind me of what a dark and depraved world we inhabit. This weekend, one such event caught me in complacency.

My girlfriend was walking in a park in Spartanburg Friday afternoon, looking for ducks to feed. A group of three men began following her and making lewd comments.

Before long, one of these men sprinted forward, wrapped his arms around her and threw her to the ground. My girlfriend – one of the most gentle, caring people you will ever meet – found herself pinned with a stranger’s hand over her mouth.

Somehow, she managed to scream, and a police officer arrived at the scene. All three men are in custody now, and she is not seriously injured, but emotionally, she is near her breaking point. She slept only two hours that night, and I worry that she will never feel as safe as she deserves to be.

As she sobbingly related this story over the phone, I was choking back an impotent fury. How could someone want to harm her? Why was I not there to protect her?

Hours later, when the initial blind rage had passed, I was struck by how universally human my situation was – not the specific details, but the crushing sense of helplessness when faced with needless suffering.

Who among us has not wrestled with injustice, great or small? Who has not felt the sting of a loved one’s death? Who is not outraged by the senseless violence taking place daily in Darfur?

Much thought has been devoted to the presence of evil on our planet. Camus described the tragedy of the human condition as a sort of plague. Conrad saw injustice as stemming from a Heart of Darkness in each of us.

I see mankind as a fallen race, forfeiting earthly paradise through deliberate disobedience of a loving Father. And while I do not claim to have solutions to all the world’s problems, I do believe I know what can eradicate this plague, this darkness of the heart, on an individual basis.

The cure is Christ, beautiful and simple. It is only through grace, offered through his willing self-sacrifice, that we can be truly redeemed and liberated from the downward spiral of corruption.

I know that my faith is not unique in having a doctrine of theodicy, an explanation of the existence of evil under the watch of a righteous deity. However, what I do not understand is the willingness of so many people to remain aloof, giving the problem of human iniquity only a cursory consideration, if any.

In a world where girls are randomly assaulted in broad daylight, how can such a philosophical quandary not be at the forefront of our minds? I am by no means saying that everyone should thoughtlessly buy into the Christian worldview.

I am saying that, as humans, it is our responsibility to ponder and address the problem of injustice in our own lives. Seek answers in earnest.