Despite tragedy, glad to have met Laura Hanish

Why?

It’s a question often asked in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. We usually hear this when a horrific loss of life occurs to which there is no understanding.

On June 21, two unique women in Albuquerque were killed. The alleged culprit was someone they knew, and loved as a part of their family.

The tragedy for some of us is that the murders hit too closely to us who knew these women — social worker Laura Hanish and her 19-year-old daughter Shanta.

I met Laura Hanish when she began helping a troubled young man that I know ... convicted Clovis library shooter Nathaniel Jouett.

Hanish had devoted her career to helping people in our state who most would consider monsters. She delved into their minds, into their past experience, to not just help their defense, but to give hope to these troubled lives.

Hanish showed great compassion and loved and tried to help the accused defendants come to terms with their actions, and to garner help for them as they faced the apparent demons that overwhelmed them to commit such henious acts.

Hanish tried to make the community see past the crime, and see the individual as a person.

That was not an easy task. Nor was it an appreciated job because of the impact that victims and their families felt because of her work.

But that did not stop her. Or people like her who took the approach that “All lives matter.”

Because of my personal interaction with Nathaniel Jouett, a member of my church, I appreciated her efforts to help him. She did not defend his actions, but showed him, and others like him, that a few minutes in a life does not have to define a life.

I know many do not understand that because of the effects of the actions of Nathaniel here in Clovis.

And that is OK.

I know that Laura Hanish made a difference in this world, and especially in the lives of all the people she worked with. I know that we need people with the same passion to touch those the world considers evil.

I know I am glad to have met her. As are many in our community.

Bonetta Hutson is an associate pastor at the Living Word Church of God, and facilitator of Celebrate Recovery. Contact her at:

[email protected]