Faithfully Yours - The third side of the story
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- Published on Friday, January 2, 2015
By Neil Strohschein
There is an old saying that goes like this: “There are three sides to every story—your side, my side and then the truth.” I wish everyone (including me) lived by the wisdom in this saying.
The months of November and December have not been pleasant ones for Canadians or for our neighbors to the south. Random senseless killings, racially motivated protests (some of which lead to riots, looting and violence), aircraft that mysteriously disappear, high profile celebrities embroiled in scandals; cyber attacks on a movie studio because the attackers didn’t like the story line of a movie it was about to release—we have seen it all in the last 60 days.
Then, to top it all off, we had the brutal killing of New York Police Department officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu; an event that, in the words of US Vice-President Joe Biden, “touched the soul of an entire nation” and left everyone asking the same question—Why?
As expected, the pundits and analysts all had their opinions—the killings were racially motivated revenge killings, a foreign nation was responsible for the cyber attack, etc. The accusations went back and forth. Politicians and other prominent people were quick to make public statements. The general public began to draw its conclusions and form opinions.
Then, investigators released their findings—and the third side of the story, the truth, began to emerge. That’s when those who had previously said: “We know what happened and why;” responded by saying: “We stand by our earlier statements;” which is another way of saying: “I know I am right. Don’t confuse me with facts.” No wonder leaders are so mistrusted at times.
In our society, we have a dedicated corps of people who spend their lives investigating stories and sifting fact from fiction. They form the two arms of our justice system. The investigators (police, medical examiners, crime lab technicians and other specialists) secure evidence, analyze it and lay charges against those they believe are responsible for criminal acts. Those in the legal system (lawyers, judges and juries) hear the evidence uncovered by the investigators, listen as the accuser and accused share their sides of the story and then, based on what they have heard, determine whether the accused is guilty or not.
Our society demands three things of those who work in our justice system. First, they must be people of integrity. They must be trustworthy people who, in the performance of their duties, will treat every person with the dignity and respect he or she deserves as part of God’s creation; who will commend those who do what is right and punish those who do not.
Second, they must be committed to the truth. On this, the laws of God and the laws of Canada agree. A person can only be convicted of and punished for a crime when his or her guilt can be factually proven beyond all reasonable doubt. If, after a thorough investigation, police and prosecutors conclude that there is not enough evidence to lay charges against an individual, their decision should be respected and supported, even though we may not like the choice they made.
Third, those who work in the justice system need courageous people to come forward with information that could help crack an unsolved murder, find a missing person, or recover stolen property. There should be no such thing as an unsolved crime in this country. The truth is out there. Someone knows the third side of the story. It’s time they shared what they know.