What is beyond dispute is that little Rebecca Riley was failed on more levels and by more people than imaginable. What is further beyond dispute is that someone, it doesn't really matter who at this point, is going to go to prison for that failure. And afterward, little Rebecca will be quickly forgotten – another relic of a society where families like the Riley's, living on the very edge of civilization it seems, are forgotten as quickly as possible lest we think about any deeper meaning, any puss-riddled, maggot-infested underbelly, that might be exposed by such a tragedy.
But such an underbelly will indeed be discussed, presently.
That said of course, The State has all the answers:
"The Rebecca Riley case represents a tremendous failure by the state, parents, physician, and pharmacy, and highlights the need for closer scrutiny of the medications being administered to children," said Representative Peter J. Koutoujian (D-Newton), a member of the Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect.Well, sure. All of those entities are indeed to blame. And perhaps some closer scrutiny, or really even a little scrutiny at all, of how and how often our children are being medicated in the name of “keeping them calm” is welcome. But I really cannot blame the lowly state rep for having in his hand a hammer – the tools of government – and seeing this, like any other problem, as a nail. Because the problem is bigger than him, than little Rebecca, than her dysfunctional parents, than any of us individually.
The death of little Rebecca, just one of a myriad of tragedies we are presented daily, is precisely what we should expect when we consciously, systematically, and with malice of forethought drive any and all higher meaning from our individual or communal lives. In short, this is exactly what we should expect to happen when we fire God.
(Note to RedState visitors: you can start here...)
Man possesses intellect – believed to reside in our brains – and (for lack of a better term) instinct – rumored to exist in our bellies. Well, all sentient beings to one level or another possess the same things and you simply cannot live long or well without either of these in some form or another. This much is obvious and really not worthy of any substantial discussion. But Man is also a spiritual being – as is equally obvious through an even casual examination of our history. Man has, from the cave to the tepee to the castle to the condo, continually appealed to a higher purpose, a spirit, a Lord – and accepted the bounds of that said Lord placed upon them (such as, “Thou shalt not murder” and the like), sometimes grudgingly, as the “cost of doing business” within communities and with each other.
And it is this spirit, this appeal to a higher purpose, this Lord, that is thought (by nearly every belief system) to reside in the heart. Catholics and Christians are taught at an early age that Jesus resides in our very heart, and it is the thoughts and actions of our heart that determine whether our path in life is toward sanctification or toward defilement. Most spiritual belief systems, though obviously differing in detail, are similar in that regard. “Trust your heart” is an admonition to appeal to your spiritual side, while “Trust your head” calls to one's intellect and “Trust your gut” to one's animal instincts.
Over the last century or so Man has focused increasing energy on the pursuit of intellectual development and the suppressing of our animal instincts and it cannot be reasonably argued that said pursuit is entirely without cause or that the results have been uniformly negative. As to the cause for example, the conduct of two brutal and savage world wars may have so weakened our collective “gut” that some now openly question whether we in the West have what it takes to win any war in the future. I too have my doubts about that, but recognize that survival is an instinct that is rather strong in all Man and am therefore hopeful that we could, if sufficiently roused, muster the belly for necessary fight.
The rewards have included technological advancements that were the stuff of Star Trek Sci-Fi less than a generation ago, increased longevity, a cleaner environment, and on and on.
But at the same time we have also trod a path that has sought to explain all things, including articles of Faith and spirit, in intellectual terms – and consequentially to discard as useless and silly all things that cannot be so quantified. You see, because the spirit usually requires certain behaviors of us – certain “norms” that must be adhered to if we are to live “at peace” with our Lord. And these “norms” can, at times, come in conflict with what our intellect tells us is either necessary for technological advancement, or quaint and inapplicable to our enlightened, modern selves, or both. And when one looks across the globe at some of the things being done in the name of “morality” and “religion” and “god”, it's little wonder that many sophisticated, modern, seemingly intelligent, worldly folks shrink in disgust at the prospect of letting the heart lead the mind and not the other way around.
Besides, what's the big deal with morality? Pornography? It's just me looking at dirty movies in the privacy of my own home, isn't it? And so what if Belief tells us that people with homosexual tendencies are called to the sacrifice of celibacy – would a “rational” God compel people to live that way? And why should I care about abortion, or euthanasia, or some such – wouldn't a “reasonable” God want us to live a quality life as we define it?
But without knowing it, pursuit of this course has allowed our own instincts, our bellies, to decide for us what it is our heart, our Lord, should believe. And our intellect, often at odds with our Heart on a variety of issues, is left clear to shout “Liberte!” to our gut, who is all too happy to comply. Our lives become smaller as we become more focused on our own immediate needs, wants and desires – all with the implied hope that our perceived modernity, our sophistication, our vocalized desire to act only with enlightened self-interest, will lead us to follow a course of humane behavior toward ourselves and those with whom we interact.
When however we reduced our freedom, indeed our very existence, to little more than the continual care and feeding either our intellect our our bellies (either literally or figuratively) to the neglect and eventual atrophy of our spiritual life, we invited the brave new world – whereby Man becomes little more than a technological being, with interchangeable and disposable parts, to be treated not as a vessel for a spirit but rather as a tool to be used and discarded. We have excised the humanity from humans and have left animals with advanced technology and little if anything to stop them from using any and all tools at their disposal to satisfy their own urges and curiosities.
We are, as Lewis famously remarked, the proverbial Men Without Chests.
The tragic story of little Rebecca Riley is a feature, not a bug, of the world we have created.
Perhaps our revulsion to stories such as this represents our humanity, our spirit, our heart, attempting heroically to reassert itself. We are uneasy. We are, to put it mildly, uncomfortable. And we start to look a sconce at our own lives, our communities, and what we've all become. We may, indeed, start to wonder about the world we have brought upon ourselves in the process of our worship of individual freedom above all other things.
But that involves introspection, patience, reflection, and a firm foot-hold in spirit and a moral foundation – qualities few of us seem to wish to have and even less in our microwave society actually possess. Besides, it's oh so much easier to find a scapegoat – to tag some deserving unfortunate with a tragedy that has so injured our tender sensitivities. Such activity, the search for, capture and punishment of “the guilty party”, serves as a salve to our intellect while reassuring our bellies that “Worry not - our heart is in the right place”. Meanwhile our actual heart falls further into disrepair.
Because, you see, in actuality Rebecca was failed by all of us, and by a society that just assume our children, aged, anyone inconvenient, actually, be medicated in the name of "keeping them calm". She was failed by a culture that doesn't want to pry into the affairs of others - neighbors, colleagues, friends - for fear that we might be "imposing". She was failed by a polity that forgives far too much, judges too little, rewards imprudently, punishes leniently and yet without care - where we are absolute strangers to the people with whom we work, worship, serve, talk, have sex.
She was abandoned by a society that abandoned God.
And so there will be investigations, debates, legislation, trials, convictions, imprisonments – and we will all move on – and little Rebecca Riley - may God have mercy on her young, tortured soul - will be forgotten, not even a footnote in our history. We will return home tonight, from our comfortable jobs, in our comfortable car, to our comfortable house, and to our comfortable families, comfortable in the knowledge that "we're not like that" - not realizing that a little bit more of our heart has died today from lack of exercise.
Rebecca Riley's suffering is over. It is the horror of our own existence that persists.
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