The other day I was at the Winnipeg Law Courts on York Avenue to observe a court hearing for a conflict resolution class (Restorative Justice), and I came out of it with a lot more added to the "things on my mind" list.
I witnessed the final hearing of a young Winnipeg man who was charged with aggravated assault. The short version of the story is that there was some sort of conflict going on between two different households on the same street in Winnipeg's inner city. A woman living in one of these two households decided to move out. On moving day her 44-year old brother came to help her. At the end of the day he was smoking outside, and a young man from the other house came out and was walking his girlfriend home. This older man then proceeded to cat call at the younger man's girlfriend from across the street.
After the younger man dropped his girlfriend off at home, he proceeded to walk back to the man and throw a punch at him, knocking him to the ground. Long story short, the rest of the guys from that house piled out and beat this older man down to the ground. The result - a man who was working and engaged is now confined to a wheelchair with sustainable brain damage and a lack of ability to speak. A young man in jail who now has a son he's seen once that was born while he was in custody, who instigated the situation but had no intention of a gang beating leading to a man being in critical care.
Wow.
There are things people are experiencing every day that I cannot comprehend.
People need the grace and love of God so badly, but cannot find it.
There are so many different realities existing
-suburban life with little pain
-life without parental love
-life without acceptance
-life filled with violence
-life filled with joy
-lives of poverty
-lives of crime
What can I possibly do against so much hurt that I simply cannot comprehend?
I know I can do little, but God can do much.
Hope.
