Thursday, April 14, 2005

What About the Children

My heart has been broken many times over in the past couple of weeks. All the horrible things that have been happening to children, babies even.
  • A 20-month-old boy was abused to death. The doctors/coroner said they had never seen such a skull fracture. They also discovered tons of scar tissue on the bones and mini-fractures all over the boys arms and legs, as well as scars all over his body. In his short time here, he had been passed around to five different people to take care of him. His birth mother granted custody on a legal pad (notarized, of course) to the woman who wound up killing him.
  • Another 18-month old died from a drive-by shooting. He had gone with his dad and two(?) sisters to get ice cream. Some guy started following their car and opened fire, possibly in a case of mistaken identity.
  • Then there's the mom with two kids whom she prostituted out to make money so they could survive.
And this is all I can recall at this moment, but there are many more stories. I hope I never am in the position of having to do anything about something like this, but if it's going on, I'd rather know about it and take some kind of action to protect the child than to find out I missed what was going on and allowed a child to suffer.

The 20-month old boy I mentioned in particular has just caused me all kinds of anguish. I started a poem even, but I'm not sure I'll ever finish it. It feels incomplete to me, but I think I've said all I wanted to. I'm struck by the selfishness of all of these people that used this little boy to vent their frustration and anger, and their unwillingness to do anything of particular importance to help this little boy. I can't help but feel that God took this little boy because he had gone to the point where he would never really recover properly. Or it was just the stupid woman smashing his head against the bathtub or wall or whatever she did when she was totally drunk, and who knows what else.

How can this happen? I don't understand. I know evil exists, but come on—this is a baby. How can anyone even conceive of such a horrible thing? :::sigh:::

1 comment:

Frodo said...

Well, I have to say, I must agree with you. I just don't get this kind of stuff. I really never knew just how stupid and insane humanity can be till I took this part time as a phone order operator for a catalog company. I talk to so many people in a given week from all around the country and most are fine but some are just insane. Turning their voices into demonic whaling over the phone over things that can be corrected.

I hate the reasoning in the light of these things you mentioned that "there are some things that are just mystery". Reminds me of "Time Machine" where the last civilization was really in control of a mutant human race but because they were so powerful no one questioned their power or confronted it. The categorized it as the works of these god like creatures that just required this. They were fine with not understanding why or taking responsibility and doing something about it.

I think in some ways it is the same with this stuff. We as a society and human race really can be horrific. But, we can also be splendid. We as a society and those around these families should look at why these things go on and attempt to recognize the signs and prevent them. One day judgement will come, it is promised, and we will all have to give an account.

---Frodo