Odd Monument

[alexxkay]

On my way to work, I pass through a little park in the center of Quincy. There is a small stone bench there, with the following inscription:

Dedicated to the strength and courage of all crime victims.
Every victim. Every time.
2007

This seems extremely odd to me.

Are they suggesting that being a crime victim is a good thing, and that we should have more of them? I can't see how that could be accomplished without also increasing crime, which seem like a really bad idea to me.

Are they trying to suggest that all crime victims have extraordinary strength and courage? I thought crime victims were generally selected for their appearance of being weak and not likely to put up a fight. I suppose they could be celebrating the *smallness* of the strength and courage, but that seems unlikely.

Are they celebrating the fact that these victims survived the crimes, and didn't let them ruin their lives? But some of them *didn't* survive, and some lives *were* ruined, so the repeated emphasis on "every" seems counterfactual.

I suppose they might be saying that "If you are a crime victim, you should be strong and courageous about it." That would at least make a little sense. But if that's what they mean, they've phrased it very poorly.

(And for that matter, what are they saying by carving this into a bench? "We think this message should be sat upon"? "People who sit on park benches make great crime victims"?)

Comments

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

If you've got a real answer, I'd be interested to hear it.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of crime victims feel utterly forgotten. The police have extremely limited resources, the prosecutors do as well, and most of the rest of their friends don't want to hear about it. Sure, there are victim advocate groups, but the larger portion of society just doesn't want to hear about it. Quincy has made a small, but permanent (and useful- benches are useful) effort to show that they care.

And as Fabrisse says below, when she was robbed, she doesn't feel brave during the actual crime, but she did feel brave (and she was) in choosing to go to the T the next day. Some crime victims (I'm including people who knew murder victims here, as well) have a lot of trouble working their way through what happened. Because it's hard. And it sucks. And sometimes, just knowing that it's possible to continue to live your life despite what happened, knowing that it can be done helps.

It's a small thing, in the grand scheme of things. But it shows that someone cares.