Iryna Zarutska. She only wanted to go home, traveling from point A to point B, checking her phone messages, maybe answering one. Unaware of the danger directly behind her. One or more stab wounds to her throat took three seconds—unexpected. Then it was well over one minute before someone crouched down to help her. To comfort her.
I did watch the edited video that one news outlet posted. Then I saw the unseen clips that Megan Kelly posted on her show. I felt I needed to see what he did to her. None of it shocked me because my writer brain goes to these dark places (I can hear my mother's voice saying to me: "Why can't you write something nice?" Because there's a lot of un-nice in the world). I understand the brutality of life, and I won't ever turn a blind eye to the possibilities of the unthinkable. I know there's more than one side to every story. A dangerous man with an unaddressed mental illness that the current system failed to help him, and a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, looking for a better life away from a senseless war, dying a senseless death because the failed system allowed that man to be free to cause harm. I can feel empathy for the man suffering from mental illness just as much as I feel so much profound grief for his victim.
I probably wouldn’t have heard about Iryna Zarutska’s murder without my Fred and our son telling me about it, and how disturbing it was. My online interactions barely scratch the surface of the news. I check the headlines, and I try to find some good news, but most of it is bad and badly reported. Mostly, I watch lighthearted Instagram videos of puppies and kittens, as well as horses and donkeys, to put my brain in a safe place.
Megan Kelly is not a personality that I follow to get news or information; but she’s not wrong for showing the graphic video of Iryna Zarutska’s murder. She’s not wrong about the bias of news outlets, what is reported or not, and what is breathlessly sensationalized 24/7. She has her biases, too. (Hello, pot…this is kettle…) I’ve noticed this on my own without her bringing it up. I’ve seen this since 9/11, 24 years is a long time to witness the division of our country and the biases of our news outlets—and now we have AI mucking things up, there are times we don’t know what truth is anymore. But then again, Yellow Journalism has been around for a long time; it has never truly gone away. The bottom line must be met—check the headlines—follow the money.
Do people need to see this young woman’s murder? Only if they chose to. I grew up watching the Zapruder video of President Kennedy being shot, and Jacqueline climbing out to pick up a piece of his skull off the back of the car. I watched the Vietnam War on the 6 o’clock news, the photo of the running naked child, her skin burning from the result of one of our weapons (a child not much older than me at the time). I watched people jumping out of the World Trade Center on a big screen TV in the lobby of a university building. People willing to die in a free fall rather than die burning to death. Did they hope that someone down below would catch them?
Did Iryna know that she was going to die?
When I saw the image of her looking up at her murderer, the confusion and fear expressed in her eyes, she was so small, only 23 years old, her life was taken away so randomly, so senselessly. Looking at that photo of her, my maternal instinct wants to cradle her.
Megan Kelly believes that this is a tipping point. Is it? That remains to be seen. I’m waiting. We’ve had many possible tipping points over the years. The media needs to undergo a major reset and begin reporting the news in an unbiased manner, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” No speculation, no opinion. Focus on the basic questions: who, what, when, where, how, and why—the shit I learned in a high school journalism class, back when I briefly wanted to be a reporter. (As far as the question “why” goes, in many cases, we may never know that answer.) The justice system and politicians must return to the rule of law, uphold the Constitution, and uphold the social contract, which protects our citizens and our country.
Democracy Dies in Darkness. It’s a slow death.
I honestly don’t know, I’m trying to make sense of it, I feel so rattled, so uncertain. I know I can’t save the world. I can only save what I can on my acre of the world.
I did save a chipmunk the other day.
Harper Lee caught it, and offered it to me as a gift. While I praised her for her hunting skills, I saw its eyes blink; I picked it up and felt it’s little heart beating fast and hard in my hand. It had been playing dead, it was so scared. I set it up into the nearby tree. Within seconds it was scampering away, a little wet from kitty spit.
But I couldn’t save the spider who fell into the bathtub two nights ago and I found it sitting on top of the bubbles from my leftover bubble bath.
It was our resident bathroom spider (I know it’s not an official spider). Lately, it has been fished out of our bathtub several times in the last couple of weeks. It was still moving when I picked it out of the soap bubble mound it was perched on, and I put it on a piece of paper towel to dry off, only to find it dead in the morning. I felt bad.
There’s always another spider to take its place.
Then, of course, there’s my wee donkey, one early morning. Her blue busy ball that I put cookies into every day, her interactive toy, that on occasion, I can hear her rattling it around the floor to get a cookie out of it. I can’t find the video of her spinning it around to get a cookie (I’ll keep looking).
I hope everyone is well. Be extra good to yourselves, follow your bliss, and find joy. Remember to be kind to others, okay? You never know what someone is going through—and we’re all going through a lot these days.
Thank you for visiting From My Acre of the World. I’m happy to share my creative life journey as I connect the dots between life, art, images, the written word, and my creative process. I want to say “Hello” to all my subscribers, followers, and new visitors. I want to thank my subscribers, both paid and free; I truly appreciate your ongoing support, and it means a great deal to me to have you here. My content is always free because I want to reach people and have my work accessible (you can pay if you want to, but there’s no pressure). I always enjoy hearing from you; your comments are pretty special.
This piece is hauntingly poignant. The juxtaposition of Iryna Zarutska’s tragic death with the quiet tenderness of saving a chipmunk or mourning a spider speaks volumes about the fragility of life, human and otherwise. It’s a raw meditation on violence, media bias, and the aching need for empathy in a world that often feels indifferent.
The writer’s reflections on journalism and the justice system are sobering. “Democracy dies in darkness” isn’t just a phrase, it’s a warning. And yet, amidst the darkness, there’s a flicker of light in the small acts of kindness, the quiet resistance of choosing compassion over apathy.
Thank you for sharing such an intimate and courageous piece. It’s a reminder to look up, to care more deeply, and to never forget the humanity behind the headlines.
Good save with the Chipmunk, Laura.:)