In the face of horror, crying Lola

Little Lola died on October 14. Her battered body was found in a plastic trunk that evening, near the apartment building where she lived with her family. The tragedy is horrific and macabre. The investigation is ongoing, as is the psychological examination of the main suspect. My few words seek neither to inform, nor to denounce, nor to explain, but to express my dismay in the face of horror, in tears.

It's the big topic of the moment. All the media are talking about it, the political authorities and celebrities are paying their respects. Commentators denounce. Some denounce a Francocide, while others denounce the presence in France of the main suspect, 24-year-old Dahbia, who was under an obligation to leave the country. Others denounce the political recuperation of the affair. Many are questioning the justice system, and even more are appalled by the impoverishment of society.

We try to understand. How could such an atrocity be committed against a twelve-year-old girl? Rape, unspeakable torture, and then the deposit of this still warm little body in a trunk... A «0» and a «1» written in red on the victim's feet.

How could this Dahbia, previously unknown to psychiatric services, have carried out such an act? Was she a madwoman, a «mental imbalance» as they say, who lost all discernment and committed this atrocious crime? As if one could be sane and commit such an act... As if a raving lunatic shouldn't be punished for life in prison because he's «ill»... But these are other debates that spring up.

Is it a question of a sectarian, Satanist crime? Theories are exploding, and rightly so. How can such horror be understood? In terms of solutions, should the debate on the death penalty be reopened? Should we reinforce security? By what means? More police officers? More psychiatric checks? More monitoring of illegal immigrants, such as the alleged murderer who was homeless?

Is the question more philosophical than social or political? Are we living in such a sick society that crimes of this kind will become more and more frequent? Are we going mad, our brains washed away by the ambient cretinism and meaninglessness of our lives? Are we compulsively haunted by a culture of death? Is humanity condemned to suffer these atrocities?

The police continue to investigate, and it's off to the races for many months to come. Psychiatrists examine the suspects. Justice will judge, rightly or wrongly: this is important for the family, even if nothing will erase Lola's murder and nobody will give her back to them. Even in the face of the incomprehensible, we must try to understand what happened. We need the truth. Even in the face of horror, we must look at human violence and become aware of the tragic reality of existence. To each his own.

Mine is to weep and question the horror. Of course, we don't do justice and we don't stop criminals with white flowers, candles, teddy bears and tribute speeches, but they are necessary. Just as it's necessary to put words to tears, even though they will forever be insufficient, incomplete and clumsy.

To you, Lola

Lola, a little girl like any other. A radiant face, a sweet smile, golden hair. A child who loved to laugh and play, like all children. Lola, who lived in the carefree spirit of youth. She danced and enjoyed herself. On October 14, she went to school. Then, at 3pm, she leaves the school and is kidnapped. She was raped, massacred and killed. She was only 12, and now she was gone. The death of a child is tragic, whatever the circumstances, but in a case like this it's even worse.

An innocent child cried, agonized. She suffered torture. Her life, her world collapsed in minutes or hours. At the tender age of 12, she saw evil face to face. She was sacrificed on the altar of the unspeakable. It's not possible, it's not thinkable, it's not acceptable, it can't be true, and yet it happened just a month ago.

The tears of the world are not enough to mourn little Lola. Though insufficient and unworthy, the tears are now flowing onto my computer keyboard. Why am I writing this text? Maybe because, faced with this tragedy, I too felt the need to say or do something. Maybe because I don't know what else to do to live with this horror in my heart. Maybe because I want to believe that it's not all over for Lola, and that after what she's been through, she's now in an afterlife, where she watches over those she loves, where she watches over all children, especially those who right now are being abused or killed by tormentors. Because I firmly believe that after tears, cries and death, she has entered eternal peace, where she will never again have to endure what she suffered, where she will rest forever, happy and more alive than ever.

Photo credit: Susan Cipriano / Pixabay

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