Community didn't do enough for 84-year-old discovered stabbed to death in burning building
If it takes the proverbial
village to raise a child, it takes that same village to protect the
elderly. Where was Mary Hines' village from July 2011, when her
electricity was turned off, until her body was discovered, stabbed, in
her burning rowhouse on Jan. 5, 2012?
The 84-year old retired
teacher was found murdered in a burning house and left for firefighters
to clean up the ashes of her human tragedy. If the financially burdened
widow were as beloved and as respected by family, neighbors and church
leaders as has been reported, did this "village" observe her darkened
home and her inability to refrigerate and cook nutritious meals for
seven months without a twinge of guilt? Did the medical professionals
detect a change in her physical, emotional and personal care during that
period? Did her church family preach more about the hereafter than the
here-and-now?
Did Mary Hines' former students weep when they
heard of the murder of their master teacher who molded them for
tomorrow's world? Did cloistered BGE executives feel a grain of shame as
they negotiated profits over compassion in July, when the lights went
out in Mary Hines' heart? How did she cope during this past sweltering
summer without the juice to hook up an air conditioner or a fan? Did she
shiver in the cold winter months without heat? How did Mrs. Hines feel,
day in and day out, living in the dark with perhaps the flicker of a
flashlight and only a telephone to connect with the outside world? How
did she keep up with the outside world without basic television
service? We retired educators want to be informed.
The elderly have special
needs — especially the need not to be forgotten. Mary Hines and her
contemporaries retired at a time when their small pensions and Social
Security could not necessarily fill the financial gap between the middle
class and degrading poverty. Did anyone stop by her home in those seven
months and feel her dire situation? If so, did they go far enough to
resolve it?
A Baltimore Sun article on Jan. 7 reported that Mrs. Hines had proudly refused offers of help, but compassionate villagers could have crossed that invisible line between nosiness and neighborliness to seek resources to save her. Mrs. Hines suffered too many losses in her twilight years: the loss of her husband, the loss of her home (renting the very house she once owned, but lost in bankruptcy 15 years ago), and loss of independence by waiting for rides to church, doctors' appointments and the local senior center.
Mary Hines deserved to
have lived her last days in peace and happiness. If vulnerable children
have guardian ad litems to protect their rights, we need a village ad
litem activism to protect the welfare of at-risk seniors.
As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s
birthday today, let us recall that this great humanitarian preached:
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of
social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but
the appalling silence of the good people."
With 11.7 percent of
Baltimore City's population age 65 or older, in time, there will be
another Mary Hines, albeit with a different name and circumstances. As
police search for the vicious killer who took Mrs. Hines' life, the
village must search for its own heart — because it is broken.
Dee Wright, a former Baltimore City English teacher, lives in Owings Mills. She is the author of four books, including "The Invisible Woman." Her email is deewright10@comcast.net.
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