Guns and Guts

Another Terrible Tragedy

January 20th, 2009

After he was slammed to the floor of a Lincolnshire day-care center, 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan, his skull fractured, grabbed his blanket and crawled to his “comfort zone”—a bouncer seat—collapsed and later died, police said.

Reading this line took my breath away, and made tears pour out of my eyes.

Story

This stupid, evil, woman slammed this little boy’s head into the floor with such force that the coroner said, it would have taken a normal fall of one to two stories, to create his injuries. She did it simply because he would not quit crying.

My God, what in the hell is wrong with people? We are desensitized to a certain extent to stories we here every day. Another hooker getting murdered, or a college coed disappearing, while creating empathy in many of us, does not really affect us too much.

These kinds of stories affect me. They affect me a lot. My wife would say I am a sensitive guy. I cried at the end of Old Yeller, and when Wayne Gretzky retired. Hell I cry at, sentimental Christmas commercials, so it is not all that unusual.

These kinds of tears, are different. After reading about an innocent baby being killed, especially by a guilty adult, it rips my heart up. How could anyone hurt a baby? Really. How can you hurt a baby?

Babies represent everything good in the world. They are innocent, represent generational hope, and nearly limitless potential. Raising a baby, is the best experience of my life. Brooke is totally dependent on us for her every need, and she shows us so much love. The responsibility is enormous, and was almost crushing when I first realized what it entailed, but the rewards are so worth the effort.

There is evil in the world, and it is written about at this very blog quite often. This is the explanation for this type of thing. Seeing small children harmed however is more real to me now, than it used to be. I always thought the “You don’t understand if you don’t have a kid.” mantra was overblown. The fact is, it isn’t. The first thing that enters my mind after reading one of these stories, is “What if that had been Brooke?”. Immediately my emotions overcome me at that point, and my empathy for the parents of the child involved, and for the child himself, becomes almost overwhelming.

Beyond my wife, my little baby girl is one of the few people on this planet that I would really do anything to protect. I mean really protect. Walk over a continent of broken glass, or drag myself up a mountain by my fingernails if need be, kind of protect. Committing homicide and spending the rest of my life in prison is not beyond the limits of what I would do to protect either of them. Luckily it is fairly hard to fathom a reason where unjustifiable homicide would be necessary.

It is with great sadness, and massive empathy that I read stories like this one, and the one about the poor little Milburn girl. The difference in the two stories is stark however. The Milburn’s baby girl lost her life in a tragic accident, while little Benjamin was murdered by his caretaker. He was murdered by someone that trusted completely, and who his parents trusted completely.

I wish I had been there for Benjamin. I wish someone had been there to try to comfort him as he laid down, and died. My soul screams out in pain at the thought of him lying there alone.

Dear Lord, please protect my wife and child today and every day father. Please make sure that nothing happens to them. Please God don’t take them from me. If it is necessary that someone should die, take me instead. I pray that you will comfort the families of these children as much as possible Lord, and help them heal these horrible wounds.

Amen.

Categories: Life |