There are things I probably should no longer read or see.
This morning, I saw a headline about a 16-month-old girl who
was left alone in a playpen while her mother took a vacation for 10 days. When she returned, the child was unresponsive
and either died or had died. I
immediately started to cry. I really
should stop clicking on and reading such articles as it breaks my heart and
results in immediate tears. I don’t
leave my plants for 10 days without arranging for someone to water them! I would not leave a child that age alone for
10 hours, much less 10 days. I would
likely be checking every 10 minutes or less.
My mother was this way near the end of her life. I thought it was because of her recent
stroke, but I don’t know that it didn’t happen before that. I just knew about it, because I was caring
for her after the stroke. We couldn’t
let her watch the evening news. If
anything came on that stated or implied that children were in danger, she would
burst into tears and cry out “the children, the children!” This was at the point where she couldn’t
carry on a conversation and often spoke gibberish.
Shortly after the war in Ukraine began, I saw an image on
television that still plays in my mind.
A young boy, perhaps about 10, was walking down a road with devastation all
around. He was completely alone, no
adult near him, and he was carrying a black garbage bag. I assumed the bag contained his
belongings. He was staggering along the
road crying as he went. This image keeps
coming back to my mind and causes tears to well up in my eyes. My only comfort is that I hear the Lord say, “the
hairs of his head are numbered.”
I don’t know if it is old age or the fact that my emotions are
more raw than ever before since the loss of my husband. Then again, I’ve had these feelings at other
points in my life.
I know it’s not Christmas, but I first heard this song in the
late 60s before we had children, and it brought tears to my eyes then, as it
expressed the desire for all children to be cared for and loved.
Sandler and Young, I Sing Noel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4R06T14Qac
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