Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

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Published on Sunday, October 30, 2016

Treating a mass murder as a mystery novel

A Canadian nurse has been charged with murdering eight seniors in care homes over a seven-year period. The victims’ families are in shock, of course. So is the community of Woodstock, ON, where seven of the murders took place. But the details are sketchy. We know the name of the alleged murderer -- 49-year-old Elizabeth Tracy Mae Wettlaufer. We know the deaths occurred between August 2007 and August 2014. We know the names and ages of the victims. We know that seven of them received a fatal dose of a drug. The drug may have been insulin. As a nurse Wettlaufer would have had access to supplies of insulin. Even so, the choice of drug is actually irrelevant -- any drug, no matter how valuable for health, can be administered as a fatal dose. But the facts available, up to the time I wrote this column, tell almost nothing about why Wettlaufer might have done what she’s accused of.
What would Morse do? It seems to me that the famous detectives in fiction tend to follow a certain modus operandi, a pattern of exploring motivations for a crime. And so I started wondering, “What would Morse do?” Or, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, “What would Jessica Fletcher do?” I explore these hypothetical ideas not to minimize, in any way, the suffering of the families affected, but to try to get some perspective on a tragedy. And the interesting element is that most of the standard motives in fiction don’t apply. The first motive is, typically, “Follow the money.” In this case, money doesn’t work. From what I can read, Wettlaufer derived no financial benefit. She wasn’t running a funeral business that needed more customers, for example. She didn’t persuade any of the victims to change their wills in her favour. If she had, the inheritors had seven years to notice any unexpected bequests. A second motive focuses on sex and personal relationships. People will kill for love. But this too doesn’t seem to apply. Not just because the victims were old -- as our society is slowly starting to accept, age doesn’t preclude the need for physical intimacy. Rather, because there’s no indication that there were any sexual relationships involved.

Unlikely motives Okay, then, what about revenge? Again, a dead end. To target eight people would require all eight to have been involved in some past conspiracy. But their range of ages alone -- from 75 to 96 -- would make such a connection unlikely. Nor have I read any suggestion that the victims knew each other, other than living in the same care facility.

The same rationale rules out another fictional favourite, blackmail. It is unlikely that eight people, some with dementia, could all conceal a secret so heinous it could become a motive for murder. Fear is a possible motive. Some news reports indicated that family members suspected their elderly relatives might be suffering abuse by staff members. Conceivably, if Wettlaufer was involved, she might fear that exposure could cost her her job. But again, I’ve seen nothing to suggest she was abusive. If not, she would have nothing to fear.
Mental illness? Mental illness is a possible explanation, if not a motive. Wettlaufer was receiving treatment at a Toronto addiction rehab centre. Indeed, something she confided during her treatment led to her arrest. The so-called “confidentiality of the confessional” does not apply to serious crimes. In Ontario, even priests and counsellors must notify authorities when they learn of certain criminal acts. The only privileged communication is between lawyer and client. A poem Wettlaufer wrote, and posted on a poetry webpage, imagined a murder worthy of Jack the Ripper, slitting a victim’s throat, slicing open her gut. But none of the eight elderly victims died that way. Nor does a lust for killing -- if that’s what the poem was -- explain why Wettlaufer would space her killings out over seven years.

The last option Which leaves me with only one additional motivation -- compassion. Rightly or wrongly, Beth Wettlaufer may felt she was doing these people a favour. They were going to die anyway. They may have been miserable; patients sometimes tell a nurse about feelings that their own families can’t, or won’t, accept. They may even have requested help ending their lives. This is all conjecture. I’m not defending Wettlaufer for whatever she may have done. But I think it is important not to leap to conclusions that she’s a heartless serial killer. Especially given the ongoing debates about Canada’s new assisted-suicide laws. ********************************************************

Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Frank Martens challenged my claim about our desire to transcend ourselves. I had written: “Perhaps the unique quality of humans is that we consciously want to be part of something bigger. Greater. Newer." Frank wrote, “Jim, I think that if you look at these concepts again, you might find many of them don't fit the top one or even ten percent of members of our society who dominate the rest of the 90 or 99 percent of us. If the human population would, could, should, accept your premise we would live in Utopia. If, for example, we really wanted to be part of a family, we would, eventually seek peace; we would sacrifice whatever we have or had for the benefit and well-being of everyone else in this world -- and eventually there would be peace; there would be no dispute that we are going to have to combine all our efforts to defeat climate change; we are going to have to combine all our efforts to defeat the human Holocaust.”

Jack Dreidger also quoted me back at myself: “"All of these are part of our drive to extend ourselves beyond ourselves. To be and to become more than we currently are. To transcend our own limitations.”
To which Jack responded, “I do not have that drive. I have worked for more than 30 years and have been retired for more than 30 years. I have celebrated my 90th birthday. What’s wrong with me?” I suggested that those who knew Jack personally might disagree with his self-assessment.

 Tom Watson tackled the question of risk, by sending a link to Luke Aikens’ 25,000-foot sky-diving freefall into a net, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93-y-ytln5E “It could be possible,” Tom continued, “to claim something beneficial to humankind from going on one of Elon Musk's spacecraft on a voyage to Mars -- something more than ‘We'll do it because we can’ -- but I'm having difficulty attributing anything remotely beneficial from Luke Aikins' freefall. And if you want to talk risky...ooh boy!”

Cliff Boldt wondered why we would want to go to Mars anyway: “Why not try to live on the planet we have? Why waste precious resources on ways to leave Earth? Make Earth work!”
On the subject of risk, Mary-Margaret Boone commended “Winning the Race? Religion, Hope, and Reshaping the Sport Enhancement Debate by Tracy J. Trothen, Mercer University Press, 2015. It looks at the relationship between sport, religion and spirituality and how the enhancement debate (using genetic modification, drug use, physical enhancements developed through techno-science including clothing) affects our ethical views and especially our hopes. Your line about extending ourselves beyond ourselves made me think of this book in particular.”

 Wilma Davison objected “that there was a flurry of news stories of the accomplishments and accolades for Jim Prentice and his family but literally NO mention of the other three people killed until days later. I truly hope that does not indicate that those three other men were unimportant or not worthy of mention by name. Their families and their friends and relatives and their extended families were just as devastated. Who do we consider most important as humans?”

Going back to the column about the hurricane disaster in Haiti, John Shaffer of Auburn WN wrote, “Perhaps I read too much, but when aid dollars are sent to Cambodia, one writer documented that $.50 of every dollar donated goes into the bank accounts of the officials. I have not read a book on Haiti, but it is obvious that donations are not being used wisely, for whatever reason.” On last Sunday’s column, he added, “I don't plan to go to Mars or the Moon, although I am glad that someone is willing to do so. When I was recently in Vietnam, I was offered the option of exploring some of the Viet Cong tunnels. Many do and all survive. I didn't go into them. If I am not willing to go ten feet below ground, it is not surprising that I am not willing to go very many miles above planet Earth.”

 Rachel Pritchard took a different look at risk: “I am more amazed by those who push the limits and risk their lives -- not because ‘it`s there’ but to save others. They are more amazing than those crazy fools who do daredevil stunts just for the sake of it. “I am just home from church where we had a talk from Thanh Campbell who was a baby rescued from Saigon in 1975, who talks about the amazing selfless courage of the pilot and crew who risked bullets to get those 56 babies out. (http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/hamilton/news/orphan-32-amazing-story-of-baby-who-escapedbefore-saigon-fell-1.2461982) Their courage just blows me away. “I also think of Oscar Schindler, Nicholas Winter, the women who became Nazi occupiers` mistresses to obtain information -- I could go on and on. Theirs is a courage that lasted years -- not just a one off event. Thank God for people like them who lived their faith in the face of unbelievable odds.”

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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com.    If you want to comment on something, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button.    To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank email (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.    Unfortunately, the archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net have disappeared. The site was hijacked, and I haven’t been able to get it back I’m hoping to have a new website up fairly soon.    I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

PROMOTION STUFF…  Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.com Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>  Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com  Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net
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Author: Jim Taylor

Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: mass murder, mystery novel

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