Iryna Zarutska / 2002-2025

[Bootstrap]

This kind of video is hard to take in. Seeing violence like that is sickening, and I feel it too. A young woman’s life was cut short in a way that should never happen to anyone. I can only imagine what her family and friends are going through.

What I wrestle with is how quickly shock and grief can turn into anger at whole groups of people or sweeping explanations for why the world is the way it is. That’s understandable, but it can also pull us deeper into fear and division. I also think moments like this can be used by political voices to stir people up in ways that don’t actually bring healing or justice.

If we talk about this here, I’d rather stay with the grief and honor her life without letting it spill into conclusions that divide and make the world feel even darker. I also agree with RZehr—we need to limit how much space we give these kinds of things in our minds. Instead, we should set our focus on seeking first the Kingdom of God and on how we choose to live in this world.

[temporal1]

This kind of video is hard to take in. Seeing violence like that is sickening, and I feel it too. A young woman’s life was cut short in a way that should never happen to anyone. I can only imagine what her family and friends are going through.

What I wrestle with is how quickly shock and grief can turn into anger at whole groups of people or sweeping explanations for why the world is the way it is. That’s understandable, but it can also pull us deeper into fear and division. I also think moments like this can be used by political voices to stir people up in ways that don’t actually bring healing or justice.

If we talk about this here, I’d rather stay with the grief and honor her life without letting it spill into conclusions that divide and make the world feel even darker. I also agree with RZehr—we need to limit how much space we give these kinds of things in our minds. Instead, we should set our focus on seeking first the Kingdom of God and on how we choose to live in this world.

i see nothing in this topic about dividing people, targeting groups, or politics. please don’t bring it.

Yeah. Call me crazy. i’m for getting everyone out of the sewers. i think it’s entirely possible. i have faith in that.
Jesus never said, “o. you’re poor. the rules are different for you. go ahead and sin, kill, et al.” nope.

He didn’t insult people like that. He raised them up, giving them [us] the victory over sin.

[JohnH]

A good question is what should happen when a violent person on drugs starts flipping out on the subway…
particularly when the weak and innocent like women and children are in danger

In my own life my solution was “drive a car and rent a parking spot”. It got stressful facing one of these situations every few weeks. For an example, some of these crazy people think you looked at them and then will come over and scream at you and start threatening you, like they are trying to start a fight

Complaining about Penny seems like looking at the wrong problem.
Deranged people on drugs should not be in public transportation.

I faced this last year on public transit...a homeless man made threatening statements to my two year old...we moved to the other side of the car. He lunged at us and I fled down the platform at the next stop. Won't be taking public transit anytime soon.

That's very scary and an unusual experience... Lot's of people ride public transit and don't experience things at that level. I've ridden public transit many times (even though not living in city) and have never seen anything like this. I love riding subways/rapid transit/etc. Millions of people use public transit daily and don't see this kind of thing very often, if ever. (Sure, strange / weird things, but not attacking people)

I have extensively used public transportation in LA, Australia, the UK, NYC, DC, SF, and Cleveland. It has become much worse in recent times, and you don’t see certain things if you are just a tourist that you do if you rely on it every day to get to and from work.

I am simply not going to take my family on public transportation if it is going to be acceptable to yell at us / scream obscenities at us based on our race; to engage in threatening behavior; and if bystanders who intervene (like Daniel Penny) instead are prosecuted. If we take our own private car, we simply don’t have to deal with any of that.

[Bootstrap]

In the U.S. overall, public transportation is much safer than driving. The National Safety Council and Federal Transit Administration data consistently show that traveling by bus or rail has far fewer fatalities per mile than traveling by private car.

Yes, there are risks on public transit, and some people do experience frightening situations. But millions of people ride buses, trains, and subways daily without incident. Cars come with their own dangers—reckless or distracted drivers, road rage, drunk driving, and far higher accident and fatality rates. Rudeness and threatening behavior aren’t unique to public transit; they also show up on the roads.

So while I respect people’s personal experiences and decisions, I don’t think it’s accurate to paint public transportation as inherently more dangerous than driving.

[JohnH]

In the U.S. overall, public transportation is much safer than driving. The National Safety Council and Federal Transit Administration data consistently show that traveling by bus or rail has far fewer fatalities per mile than traveling by private car.

Yes, there are risks on public transit, and some people do experience frightening situations. But millions of people ride buses, trains, and subways daily without incident. Cars come with their own dangers—reckless or distracted drivers, road rage, drunk driving, and far higher accident and fatality rates. Rudeness and threatening behavior aren’t unique to public transit; they also show up on the roads.

So while I respect people’s personal experiences and decisions, I don’t think it’s accurate to paint public transportation as inherently more dangerous than driving.

Much of the danger in a private car is up to my own choices.

On public transportation, I’m powerless. That’s a big difference.

[temporal1]

Yeah. Call me crazy. i’m for getting everyone out of the sewers. i think it’s entirely possible. i have faith in that.
Jesus never said, “o. you’re poor. the rules are different for you. go ahead and sin, kill, et al.” nope.

He didn’t insult people like that. He raised them up, giving them [us] the victory over sin.

i intend to return to this. Iryna Z may be more recognized globally than in the U.S.

i believe because cameras recorded enough to confirm what is known about UNPROVOKED murder of an unsuspecting, unarmed, unprepared victim, who did not fight back in any way. It appears she didn’t even scream.

We know UNPROVOKED crime happens, it’s been happening in Europe; children, women, but, anyone, even police are targeted.

Ultimate cowardice.

i hope IZ’s memory will be one to PREVENT cowardice. i believe that might be her first wish.
because that’s how healthy brains operate.

[JohnH]

Yeah. Call me crazy. i’m for getting everyone out of the sewers. i think it’s entirely possible. i have faith in that.
Jesus never said, “o. you’re poor. the rules are different for you. go ahead and sin, kill, et al.” nope.

He didn’t insult people like that. He raised them up, giving them [us] the victory over sin.

i intend to return to this. Iryna Z may be more recognized globally than in the U.S.

i believe because cameras recorded enough to confirm what is known about UNPROVOKED murder of an unsuspecting, unarmed, unprepared victim, who did not fight back in any way. It appears she didn’t even scream.

We know UNPROVOKED crime happens, it’s been happening in Europe; children, women, but, anyone, even police are targeted.

Ultimate cowardice.

i hope IZ’s memory will be one to PREVENT cowardice. i believe that might be her first wish.
because that’s how healthy brains operate.

I think we can safely assume a man arrested 14 times doesn’t have a “healthy brain”. The question is what to do with violent lunatics.

[Jazman]

Much of the danger in a private car is up to my own choices.

Some of it is, sometimes... 50%? In real life though, a lot of driving danger is NOT my own choice. I'm not the only one on the road... A lot of our infrastructure is poorly designed or misused for a 1person-1car centric environment. A lot of other drivers are too distracted, too angry/stressed, too young/inexperienced, too old...ect ect. None of that is my own choice... They make bad decisions while driving, that hurt and kill other people who had 0 choice in the moment.
A multitude, maybe even a majority of serious and fatal auto accidents happen by NO choice of the victim... Thankfully some of that is mitigated by the God-ordained state that forces people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn't... like stopping at intersections, slowing down in certain zones and getting inspections, licenses, etc. There should more of that to fully realize the human flourishing that God intends for His creation. (including mass transit and slower, healthier ways to get around like bicycle culture/infrastructure).

[JohnH]

Much of the danger in a private car is up to my own choices.

Some of it is, sometimes... 50%? In real life though, a lot of driving danger is NOT my own choice. I'm not the only one on the road... A lot of our infrastructure is poorly designed or misused for a 1person-1car centric environment. A lot of other drivers are too distracted, too angry/stressed, too young/inexperienced, too old...ect ect. None of that is my own choice... They make bad decisions while driving, that hurt and kill other people who had 0 choice in the moment.
A multitude, maybe even a majority of serious and fatal auto accidents happen by NO choice of the victim... Thankfully some of that is mitigated by the God-ordained state that forces people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn't... like stopping at intersections, slowing down in certain zones and getting inspections, licenses, etc.

None of the changes the fact that if I were in the same situation as that girl, I’d be powerless to stop getting stabbed (or prevent my children from being stabbed), and that in my own car I simply never have to deal with a deranged lunatic in my passenger seat trying to stab me.

Bicycles are also not usable when one has to share space with deranged lunatics who can attack and endanger bicyclists seemingly without consequences. In large part, cars are about protection. Short of a full blown carjacking, it’s pretty hard to be a victim of a crime of opportunity, unlike public transit, walking, or bicycling.

There should more of that to fully realize the human flourishing that God intends for His creation. (including mass transit and slower, healthier ways to get around like bicycle culture/infrastructure).

If you want to see that, then you need to get serious about an end to street crime, and something more than just quoting cherry picked statistics proving that subways are “safe” when they simply aren’t.

[temporal1]

Yeah. Call me crazy. i’m for getting everyone out of the sewers. i think it’s entirely possible. i have faith in that.
Jesus never said, “o. you’re poor. the rules are different for you. go ahead and sin, kill, et al.” nope.

He didn’t insult people like that. He raised them up, giving them [us] the victory over sin.

i intend to return to this. Iryna Z may be more recognized globally than in the U.S.

i believe because cameras recorded enough to confirm what is known about UNPROVOKED murder of an unsuspecting, unarmed, unprepared victim, who did not fight back in any way. It appears she didn’t even scream.

We know UNPROVOKED crime happens, it’s been happening in Europe; children, women, but, anyone, even police are targeted.

Ultimate cowardice.

i hope IZ’s memory will be one to PREVENT cowardice. i believe that might be her first wish.
because that’s how healthy brains operate.

I think we can safely assume a man arrested 14 times doesn’t have a “healthy brain”. The question is what to do with violent lunatics.

i intended PREVENT as the operative word.
an ounce of PREVENTION is still worth a pound of cure.

our culture has a lot to learn about that. PREVENTION