"The least of these..."

A young woman in our city was savagely attacked and beaten in an early morning attack last week. She was simply walking to work.  She is fighting for her life in a Calgary hospital.  It is awful and the assailant has not been caught.  We feel shocked and her face and name are all over social media, requesting prayer, requesting financial support, as her husband cannot work while he supports her recovery.  She is not a member of my church, but her name is in our prayer chain.  I sincerely hope and pray she recovers and that she can put her life back together again.  She has a long road ahead of her.

In all this, I have felt an odd sense of anxiety and unrest in my spirit.  You might say it's because there is an attacker out there, who could easily do this to somebody else, but that's not it.  Here is what I'm thinking, and some people may not like it.

What if she was First Nations?  Would the outpouring of grief and support be there if this wasn't a thin, Caucasian, blonde woman, but a First Nations woman walking to work, doing the EXACT same thing? What if she wasn't walking to work, but was stumbling home drunk? Or on drugs?  Would our rage extend to the attacker of someone like that?  Or would we maybe quietly think (or say) that she shouldn't have been in that state, and those types of things happen when you delve into risky behaviours?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I have a hunch.  I have lived here long enough to know that some lives are seen as more valuable than others.  Let the police deal with First Nations people who are beaten up.  Let Streets Alive deal with them.  If this had been someone of another race or if they'd been drunk or on drugs, or any variety of factors besides being a sober, white female, would we care?  Would we be donating money to support them?  Would our churches be praying for them?  Sadly, I kind of don't think so.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I am horrified by this attack and truly hope for this young woman to recover.  She deserves all the support our community can give her.  But so does anyone else.  So does the First Nations person.  So does the drunk.  So does the druggie.  So does the immigrant.  So does the prostitute.  So does the social outcast.  So does the homeless.  Until we are equally horrified when ANYONE is hurt, we have a long way to go.

Let's pray for this woman.  Let's pray for all who suffer at the hands of another.  Let's pray for those our society says "deserve it".  Let's pray for those who believe others "deserve it" due to their life choices (in their control or not).  Let's be a people who follow Jesus' example of seeking and pursuing the marginalized and downtrodden people of our world and loving them and caring for them the same way we care for "one of our own".