STAR-BULLETIN People left balloons, toys and flowers at the H-1 pedestrian overpass from which a child was thrown Thursday.

Deaths of a woman and a toddler leave islanders stunned

Yet two fiercely disturbing incidents in two days have rattled local sensibilities, leaving many to wonder if decency and humane conduct have slipped even further away than thought.

A woman trying to get her life back on track is beaten to death with the butt of a shotgun on a public street in a nice neighborhood. The accused is the father of two of her five children, the youngest a son who bears his name.

Her other son, who exhibits the demeanor of one much older than his 13 years, speaks of hating the man who "used to whack my mom a lot." At his age, the innocence of childhood is gone.

The next day, another boy, just three weeks short of his second birthday, dies, thrown from an overpass to the freeway below. The man arrested in the incident might have had psychological problems, but that is little consolation to a mother who lost a child.

It is difficult to make sense of these things. Well-meaning experts and social authorities can point to causes and effects, preventive measures, hot lines and programs for what are labeled domestic violence and mental illness, terms that repetition has diluted to banalities.

Still, it is important to recognize that there are many among us unable to cope with disappointment and failures. They live next door or in the next room. They are family members, friends, passing acquaintances, colleagues on the job. If Hawaii is to escape further fractures in our communities, we must try to help.