The power of forgiveness

Best friends Allie Young, left, 19 and Stephanie Davies, 21, tell reporters about the shooting in Colorado. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Mark Boster, Pool)

The paradox of terrifying events like the Colorado
shooting spree is that they can also spotlight how heroic
and just plain good ordinary people can be.

Young men protecting their girlfriends, others dragging
victims to safety as bullets flew, a victim who says he’s
already forgiven the shooter. And now, three hospitals are
also promising to forgive medical bills.

“Three hospitals have now announced they will either
limit or completely eliminate the medical bills for many
of these victims,” said one news report.

Because this happened at a Batman movie, many of the
victims were at that age where you tend not to have health
insurance. People like Caleb Medley, who will probably be
in rehab for years and who also just became a father. He
was at the movie with his pregnant wife, who survived and
gave birth Tuesday.

His friends started a website that’s already raised
$300,000. But the hospitals are promising that even if a
victim can’t raise that kind of money, they’ll get
treatment. It’s health care for all and it’s utterly un-
controversial!

So what makes this different from the idea behind
government-mandated health care for all, which so many
people seem to want to repeal?

Well, because all the patients were the innocent victims
of a monster. But are these the only innocent victims
among us?

What about the millions of people who were not in that
theater, and who we will never hear of, who also have
young families, and also don’t have insurance, and also
didn’t deserve the injuries or diseases that threaten to
bankrupt them?

Of all the reasons to deny health care should
insufficient publicity be one of them?