Another Youth Dead - What Can We Do?

 

In recent weeks, I have noticed a disturbing trend. There seem to be an awful lot of news articles about dead teenagers in the Niagara Region.

Those who keep up with the news will know which incidents I am referring to. The highest-profile story that comes to mind is the devastating fire that claimed the life of 16-year-old Samantha Zuvic, as well as her mother, brother, and great-grandmother, in December. Another incident is the death of a pedestrian on Lundy's Lane, which occurred just yesterday. The identity of the person has not been confirmed by the NRP or any media sources, so I will refrain from using it, but it seems that anyone who is under 18, or has Facebook friends who are, already knows who he was. There are other stories as well.

Both of these incidents were tragic accidents. This is not an issue of any kind of deficiency in our community - it's simply an unfortunate coincidence that a number of such stories have appeared in a relatively short amount of time. It's upsetting, but not particularly frightening.

What is frightening is the kind of response these stories get when they make their way out to the public, especially on social media. It seems that we are always looking for someone to blame, even when nobody is really at fault.

In the case of the Zuvic house fire, for example, I can recall the response when CBC News and others released the first official list of who had survived and who had been killed. Many people speculated that the childrens' father and uncle, both of whom survived the fire, must have been shady. It was suggested that one of them could have set the fire. This was not just one person - I saw it numerous times on different articles, posted by different people. In a public forum. Where the relatives, friends, classmates, coworkers and associates of the deceased could see it. Who in their right mind thinks that this kind of finger-pointing is acceptable in the aftermath of a tragedy?

In the case of the traffic accident, people have taken this opportunity to attack the character of the deceased individual as well as his girlfriend. I will not go into detail about what has been said, since as I noted before, it's not news - but even if the accusations are true, is it really appropriate to share them on a page set up as a memorial for someone who has just died?

This nonsensical blame game has to end. It's time for us all to stop trying to solve every problem by figuring out who is responsible. Sometimes nobody is responsible. Sometimes bad things happen for no real reason. Why not try to show a little empathy for those who died and for those who now have to live without them? It won't make their pain go away, but it will certainly help them through a difficult time - difficult enough without the burden of having to halt your grieving to validate yourself to vengeful Facebook commenters.

My sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of the deceased.