It\u2019s been a tough week here in Waco. I hope readers of this blog will pardon my tendency to \u201cread sociology\u201d into my personal experience-maybe it\u2019s how I cope sometimes. I\u2019m currently a member of a local church as well as a faculty member at Baylor University. Both of these affiliations reflect an important connectedness one feels with others who also share these same identities. So it was doubly hard to hear on Sunday morning the news that a fellow church member and colleague passed away after a 6 month battle with lymphoma. Her memorial service was beautiful and I was struck by the mass of people who made it out to remember her in this moment. She was not even 40 but already her impact had extended well beyond her family.<\/p>\n
And prior to this announcement I spent the previous week at court for the first time in a jury. I\u2019ve always known in the abstract the duties of being on a jury, but as with participation in any organization and institution, one understands these responsibilities in a deeper way when called to serve. This was all the more pronounced for me since the case was one of the most pernicious: child sexual abuse. The prosecuting team did well in conveying the evidence, but the evidence, and the narration of events that connect the evidence together jostled me to the core. I could hear and see with my mind\u2019s eye the multiple generations of dysfunction in this victim\u2019s social context. It would take Child Protective Services, the police department, a local clinic, and lawyers to intercede and end over a year of abuse. But after the sentencing I still wonder whether (no, I hope) the resilience she showed in calling the cops the day that ended the abuse will carry her further still.<\/p>\n