Tuesday, November 04, 2014

A Thought

I've just read a horrifying article about Jillian McCabe, a woman with a documented history of recent mental illness brought on by major stress in her life--her father's death, her husband's diagnosis of MS and the ensuing health struggles he had, the difficulties of their marriage as they worked out switching roles in life (he going from primary breadwinner to needing constant care), and, on top of all that, a severely autistic six-year-old son.

Jillian McCabe threw her son off a bridge today. His body was found later, and she fully admitted to doing it.

Sad, horrific--every word you can think of.  I'm the first to say that her actions deserve a consequence. Obviously, she is not capable of being out in society. And I even agree that mental illness isn't an excuse for what she did...but then, having only recently found myself dealing with some pretty irrational fears and frustrations, I hesitate to assert that she ever had total control in the split-second it took her to grab her little boy and throw him into the freezing waters below.

What I'm trying to say is that what she did was horrific, and deserving of a consequence...but I have to wonder how many of the people saying that her mental state has absolutely nothing to do with this--that she is purely evil--would scream, "We need better mental health care in this country, not tighter gun laws!!" at all of the school shootings that have happened...and will continue happening.

Just a thought.

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