There was a young woman name Eurydice,

Who, by all accounts, was very nice.

Funny and clever,

Remembered forever,

With the unassuming power of edelweiss.

The Legacy of Eurydice is deeper than her death, and yet it is in her death that her voice is loudest.  She is the 30th Australian woman to die by the hands of an entitled man.

Those who knew her, heard her words, shared her life, can celebrate this.  Their grief is personal, their loss immense, and within them is Eurydice.  She lives on in them, as the full and awesome woman she was, as the child they knew, and times they shared .  The nature of her death, her tragic and wrongful death, means that people who did not know her are also reeling at her death.

The grief of all these strangers, myself included, is different to the raw depth of her loved ones.  The grief of strangers is outward.  It is an outcry for the deplorable state of society. In response to police suggestions for ‘safety strategies’ we roared:

How about this instead – don’t rape and kill!

The man that choose to commit his heinous crime is fully responsible.

The society that gave him that choice must change.  It begins with connection.  Love. Value.  Respect.  For all.

I am left wondering, however, why  is Eurydice’s voice so strong? Who were the other 29?

Is it because Eurydice was ‘up and coming’, we feel personally robbed of a future celebrity?

Is it because the crime was commited by a stranger in a public place, and we are reminded of the failings of society?