Steve's Story Continues

Last Saturday I did a second post about Steven Eberhart who stabbed an off duty police officer in a grocery store here in my city and who also attended grade school with me and came to my church briefly. On Monday, Steve's mother told his story in an interview, expressed her sorrow, and apologized for what her son did. Here is the continuation of Steve's story at this link.

He Was Harmless, But...

Last night when my brother came home from work, I overheard him telling our father about a police officer being brutally stabbed here in town. I thought little about it because violence is so much a way of life in this society, therefore since I felt very drained and tired I went to bed really not touched strongly or interested in what I briefly heard.

When I awoke this morning, my mother and father were talking at the breakfast table about the need for a large mental health facility here. For years one of the only two hospitals in this city had the notorious "6th floor" where mental health patients were admitted. The 6th floor was eliminated.

Prior to the 6th floor's demise, my town also had a rather upscale facility called Charter Winds Hospital. Charter Winds went bankrupt because of mismanagement of the hospital's funds costing a lot of jobs and leaving locals who needed somewhere to retreat for psychological problems with the option of being sent either 40 miles north to a facility in the town of Gainesville or 65 miles west to a hospital similar to Charter Winds in Atlanta.

My parents own a business which is on one of this city's main thoroughfares. They talk a lot about the people who walk up and down the street, many who seem very strange or out of their heads. Last year the large glass display windows on the front of their business was broken out twice late at night. Whoever did it was not seeking money since there was no sign that the building was entered. We just supposed that the person responsible was probably one of the many poor souls who stumble up and down the street everyday past the shop.

My dad who is so incredibly naive about what is going on in the world and society today had found himself being preyed on by a guy who often came by the shop asking to clean up trash out in front of the building. The guy started out cleaning; then he switched over to begging my dad to just give him some money even if there was no trash outside to be gathered. My mom was wise enough to see a pattern starting, so he told dad to not give the guy anything else, and to warn him that if he kept coming by, that they would call the police. I am concerned by my father's naivete especially now after what has happened so close to home. It is important as Christians that we help the poor as Jesus clearly demonstrated in His life, but the possible dangers of the situation which my dad has allowed to progress has come clearer to me after what has happened.

I did not expect the conversation my brother had with my father last night about a police officer being stabbed to come so close to home, but it has. This morning while my parent's were talking, I got up from the breakfast table to get this morning's newspaper out in our den. I am never really interested in the local news, but when I looked at the headlines "Officer Stabbed" and looked down the page, I was shocked and astonished when I saw the perpetrator's photo! Last night the female officer who was working off duty security at a local grocery store in town was stabbed by someone who had gone to middle and high school with me. He had been kind and very friendly. "Little Steve" as I used to call him used to sit beside me sometimes on the school bus. Steve was a grade below me, and on me he had the biggest crush. I am African American, and unlike most of the black guys I went to school with, Steve was not intimidated by my level of smarts nor by where I lived which is a quiet middle class enclave of blacks. Just a few years ago, Steve showed up at my church. Life had not been kind to him. Like most black men he was unmarried and had a kid out of wedlock, but he did not say anything about the usual run in with the law which is all too common. He lived in one of the city's government housing areas downtown which was built during the 1930s and which has been renovated in the last 10 years. After all those years, Steve was still attracted to me and asked if we could go out sometime. I did not give him an answer, but I did give him a ride home since he did not have a car. My pastor took a liking to Steve too because of his still outgoing spirit. Both I and Pastor Patricia sympathized with Steve since he had been battling depression for many years. Today, I am stunned like I am sure Pastor Patricia will be when she reads this. The assistant pastor at church at the time, Tommy York, has been the chaplain at the jail where Steve now is. I am sure he is astonished too.

As human beings we are all capable of incredible evil and incredible good. In the last week the country has been faced with yet again with mass shootings in a mall and in a church. So many people are alone and hurting in this society. I think about them, even though I don't know them. Post modern civilization is so devoid of any real concrete connection to God. We have been taught that as humans we should be able to change our lives on our own and go alone through our own mental strength. We really don't want to get too close to God because depending on Him demands surrender of many of our selfish desires; it means letting go of our independence.

I feel so sorry Steve and the female police officer he stabbed. Like Steve I experienced depression for many years and was incapacitated to such a degree that my doctors said I would never be able to handle the stress of a real job. This year I was re-evaluated as no longer ill with bipolar depression. Even when I was disabled I had worked off and on not wanting to accept that my years of education was going to be for naught. When I became a born again Christian in January 2000, I wanted to be cured from my spiritual emptiness as I had come to realize my depression was. I learned to depend on Jesus Christ and remembered His selfless sacrifice. I listened to my pastor's advise and learned Christian precepts that literally saved my life and re-opened possibilities for me. I was blessed to escape my dark night of the soul. Poor Steve and millions of others worldwide have not, but it is to be hoped they will escape.

The news article about the stabbing can be read here. The online version of the article does not include the photo of Steve.