Forum: Human loss seems inevitable when we decide who’s expendable
Published 1:30 am Saturday, January 31, 2026
By Tim White / Herald Forum
Last Sunday, Alex Pretti, a 39-year-old critical care nurse in Minneapolis, was shot and killed during a public protest. A man trained to save lives became another death absorbed into a national argument.
Two days earlier, video circulated showing five-year-old U.S. citizen Liam Conejo Ramos, his face nearly hidden beneath a blue winter hat, being taken from Minnesota and later transported to confinement in Texas. The footage unsettled people across the country; not because it clarified policy, but because it revealed fear and confusion no child should have to navigate.
And in December, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, a police officer serving with the National Guard, was ambushed and killed while on duty in Washington, D.C. A young woman sworn to protect the public became another name added to a growing list of national tragedies.
Add to this another stark reality: On a single night in 2024, more than 770,000 people in the United States were homeless, many priced out of both rent and homeownership, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That reality is visible in communities across Washington, including here in Snohomish County.
These events feel relentless. And they are taking a toll on all of us; across political lines and within them. Protesters and MAGA supporters grow angrier at one another, while even within each camp frustration deepens over who is too radical, or not radical enough. No wonder so many Americans feel isolated, exhausted and confused.
It might help to step back; to look at all of this from the summit of Mount Pilchuck, which rises 5,324 feet above Everett and the surrounding communities.
From that height, one thing becomes clear: this is where our language begins to fail us. We can only think through language. And when our language is inadequate, our moral reasoning falters with it. If the words we use flatten human beings into abstractions, our responses will do the same.
There has to be a better way.
The phrase collateral damage entered modern strategic language in the mid-20th century as a euphemism for unintended harm to civilians during war. It signaled regret, but also permission; to proceed despite the cost.
But the reality it describes is far older. It appears at the dawn of human history, when the first conflict between brothers ended with blood on the ground.
Such language creates distance. It allows suffering to be acknowledged without responsibility. Increasingly, we are not solving problems so much as sorting people; into categories neat enough to argue about, but too abstract to help.
We can do better than that.
We can take borders seriously without abandoning our humanity. Laws matter. Public safety matters. Accountability matters. But dignity matters too. A humane society should be capable of enforcing its laws while refusing to treat people — whether a child, a nurse, a police officer, or a family without a home — as expendable.
The choice before us is not chaos versus compassion. It is whether we will continue explaining away human loss as unavoidable; or insist on a better way to resolve conflict and address suffering through the lens of our shared humanity.
The most dangerous question we face is no longer whether loss is inevitable.
It is who we are willing to lose.
Tim White is the retired lead pastor of Washington Cathedral in Redmond, where he served for 42 years. He and his wife have lived in Marysville for the past five and a half years. He recently released his fourth book, a literary novel titled, “The Original Human Beings.”
