Bad things happen.
That is an unfortunate fact of life but we can define a negative situation with how we respond.
Last week we reported on thieves making off with Nathan Wagman’s bottles, nabbing them from the garage while the family was home. The eight-year-old had been collecting the bottles to save money for summer vacation and to purchase a mini-skateboard.
In the grand scheme of world ills, it might not seem like a significant event. When considered through the eyes of a child however, it is not trivial. This theft attacked a child’s innocence, sense of personal safety and is a black mark on society that he will remember for the rest of his life.
Wagman’s father, Nathan, said his son was obviously upset about the theft and told he was worried the “bad guys” came into their home. That is a heart-wrenching and traumatic statement for any parent to have to hear.
In most cases, the approximately $100 worth of bottles Wagman had collected would be lost forever, but luckily he lives in Cochrane.
Renewing our faith in people was the response we had to the story. As of Monday, six people contacted the Eagle asking how they could help the family. Most wanted to replace the boy’s bottled with their own. One woman from Water Valley, heartbroken and in tears when she left the message, pledged $200 to Wagman.
While we can focus on the heartless and cowardly act of the thieves – who were fortunately caught by police – we should instead focus on the people who came forward to help.
This is what it means to be a part of a community – stepping up to help in times of need.
It is easy to live our lives oblivious of our neighbours and ignore the various plights the people around us might be experiencing on a daily basis, but that way of living does nothing to build the type of society we all yearn for.
Our world is overwhelmed with negativity these days. Although crime rates in Canada have continuously declined since 1970, social media has allowed the spread of information – often negative – to permeate our lives.
That kind of bombardment of negativity can take its toll on our level of empathy and make it impossible to walk in other’s shoes often times preventing us from showing compassion.
As demonstrated in the Wagmans’ case, sometimes it takes experiencing the world through the eyes of a child for us to truly see how events for what they are.
Adults often have a jaded and callous outlook that can set us in our ways, but children are malleable. When we see those impressionable lives changed in negative ways we often react in a very visceral way in an attempt to defend their innocence.
Imagine if we looked at the world with that lens all the time? What kind of society could we build if we all tried to defend our childlike sense of innocence through an entire lifetime?
While it might not be possible in practice, it’s a nice thought.
