Reminders.

Last night, I was working on editing this website for the presentation on Tuesday. I was singing along with my favorite band on iTunes, looking at pictures from Brian Steidle and Ryan Spencer Reed's websites. When I realized it was nearly midnight, I closed my laptop, which shut off the music and that's when it began.

First it was just a stiffled yelling, the couple in the apartment above mine were having a domestic dispute. But then the yelling turned into screams, only lasting a few seconds at a time, I can still hear her voice in my head screaming and yelling for someone, help me.. help me... you're hurting me...

It happened in a matter of minutes. From the first scream I heard to the time I called 911 requesting immediate attention to the incident.

I stayed long enough to let three policemen in the secured building and picked up my cat and went to my parents house around 12:30am. I thought I would sleep better knowing I wasn't in the same building as someone who was probably being cited and would soon be let go to continue doing the same behaviors.. I had no faith in our system. Our jails are full, and only the most heinous crimes are being punished.

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The next morning, I went back to my apartment to change before going to work, heard footsteps above me and assumed the couple above me was still there. I went to work at my attorney's office and checked my emails, read the police daily log to check new cases and the jail roster as I usually do for my daily routine.

I see my block address, the time I called and a man's name who was arrested for a felony assault charge. Working for an attorney, I immediately recognize the severity of this charge and look further into the matter. Through contacts at the county courthouse, I find out that the man I put in jail has a hearing int he afternoon. I wouldn't find out until after my Anthro 490 class.

Completely distracted throughout the entire class, I called my contact as soon as I was outside the door. I am informed that the man is being held on $25,000 cash bail and that had I waiting a few minutes longer before calling 911, the woman probably would have been beaten, strangled and stabbed to death. He is now being charged with Attempted Homicide. Should the case go to trial which is more than likely, I will probably be called as a witness.

Overcome at the news, I tear up, thinking about how I waited 5 or 10 minutes for the police to arrive, it had felt like an eternity. I was shaking so badly during the 911 call and the feeling hasn't completely dissipated. How can I study the genocide in Darfur all day long without that reaction, and yet - be so shaken by one man beating one woman.

I only did what I was supposed to do, called the police. Helped one woman. And then it hits me, what is the child in Darfur supposed to do when she sees the same thing happen to her sister, mother, brother or father. There is no police to call, there is no authority she can trust.

It reminds me why I "keep on keeping on" as we say in class. To give everyone the chance at the freedom and the security that protects those freedoms. Every couple of years, an incident like this happens to me, and it sets me back on the right path, reminds me what it more important.

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Every once in a while, an incident occurs that makes you sit back and realize that life is precious. And the system we have in place to protect our peace and prosecute those who offend us does still work. It may be corrupt and full of arrogance and deceit, but it is still better than nothing and we must protect that and remember why it is here in the first place. Life is precious. And it must be protected.