Sometimes it takes a terrible tragedy to get a sensible law passed. Although the bill to increase penalties for strangulation not resulting in death was passed in the Assembly, the State Senate sat on it for weeks. The bill made it to the Governor’s desk Tuesday, three days after the body of Yasemin Uyar was found in a Tennessee wooded area.
She had been trying to escape her abusive partner, the father of two-year-old Sebastian, now awaiting extradition to New Jersey on murder charges. She had a restraining order against him but he managed to abduct both the child and Yesemin.
How does a child grow up realizing that his father has killed his mother? It’s almost beyond our comprehension. Strengthening laws against domestic violence is one approach to this issue. Moving beyond a culture of violence is another.
Prayer for the Day
God of our wayward hearts, we search for you in comfortable places,
But you do not appear there in spite of our entreaties;
Open your voice to us where we least expect it
And remove from us our certainty of the answers.
Enable us to listen to others, even when painful and distressing,
And open our ears and hearts to cries of pain.
In the name of him who sought to end suffering,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
It is not the bruises on the body that hurt It is the wounds on the heart and the scars on the mind.
- Aisha Mirza, journalist
There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures, and communities; violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.
- Ban Ki-moon, South Korean diplomat, Eighth Secretary General, United Nations
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise;
When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me
God will bring me out to the light, and I will see God’s vindication
Micah 7: 8-9