Claire Wang, describing her daughter, her "Little Light Bulb":
"Fortunately, I had held you tightly and told you I loved you every day."
On Monday, March 28 2016, Claire Wang was watching her four year old daughter playing on her bicycle when the little girl fell over. A man stopped by the little girl, and Wang mistakenly thought he was going to help her up.
Instead, the man grabbed the little girl and cut off her head with a knife in full view of her mother, who was powerless to do anything to stop the attack. The attacker was quickly captured, but too late to save the little girl.
The crime has shocked Taiwan. Mx. Wang was horrified, but her response to the tragedy has been amazing and strong, and one to admire and emulate. The issue of ending "capital punishment" in Taiwan is being debated, but instead of seeking revenge against the killer, Mx. Wang has spoken out. She has not and will not forgive him, but she has the will to speak against capital punishment and for greater help for the mentally ill. (The murderer was a psychiatric patient who was inadequately treated and released from hospital.) Some have accused the Taiwanese media of sensationalism, but it is Mx. Wang who voluntarily chose to talk to the media.
Sadly, one day after the murder of Mx. Wang's daughter, a policeman was stabbed in an unprovoked and unrelated attack in a metro rail station in Taipei. It is unknown if the policeman's attacker was mentally ill.
These are now the second and third such attacks in recent years following the unprovoked murders on the Taipei subway in 2014 when Cheng Chieh murdered four people and injured several others. Cheng had a history (from childhood to adulthood) of threatening violence against other people.
As horrific at these attacks with knives are, this shows yet again the need for gun control. How many more people would have been killed if guns were as uncontrolled as freely available as in the US? The "good guy with a gun" is a myth believed only by the ignorant.
My condolences and best wishes to Claire Wang and her husband.
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