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Brian Thompson, in many ways, was an analyst. He was a CPA who spent 20 years in finance and management work with his last employer, UnitedHealthcare Group, becoming CEO in 2021.
Last Wednesday morning, Brian Thompson was murdered outside of his hotel in Midtown Manhattan, gunned down by an assailantwho has yet to be captured or publicly identified.
Repeat. The husband and father of 2 was murdered in broad daylight. His murderer is still on the run. Thompson is the victim of a violent, capital crime the is intolerable in any society, especially in a nation where Life is protected under the premise of a Constitutional right to “Equal Justuce under the Law.”
This murder of a fellow analyst is horrendous. The attitudes of many in the aftermath is almost as awful (even though they do not equal the grief and agony facing Thomspon’s widow and 2 sons).
From sparky comments and jokes on social media and SNL, to outright celebration and calls of “justification” for this murder, the aftermath of this violent tragedy shows us how rotten our society and culture have become.
60 years ago, just 2 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a Dallas night club owner, Jack Ruby, performed a similar act of vigilantism against the suspected assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Ruby thought he would be called a hero for his actions, killing Oswalld. Correctly, the mourning public vilified him, and a Jury convicted him of capital murder.
Thompson's career and place of employment have no standing on his right to Life. Negative public sentiments on the healthcare and health insurance industries, or the anger individuals experience when claims for necessary treatments are denied, never justify taking any action that violates the natural rights of another.
Spiritually speaking, mocking the victim of such a crime is a callous and crude form of Sin. Celebrating murder is unconscionable.
If we want to be a moral nation, or even just a considerate one, we must uphold an immutable objection and repudiation of such acts. Even in those cases where the weakness of our feelings may lead to sympathy for a parent avenging the death or rape of a child, we cannot celebrate or condone the crime or deny the application of Justice for the additional victims.
This has been a sorry, shameful episode for our country this past week, and unfortunately, there is another one I will share thoughts on tomorrow.
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