Sunday, January 30, 2011

The tears that seem endless - pt 1

I should have been asleep at midnight or certainly by 2 a.m. this morning, but I was gripped by reading news online about all the tragedies that have taken place in only the first month of this new year. Part of it is the old newshound in me after many years as a reporter and editor and an insatiable thirst for what's going on in the world.

However, today, a greater hunger lurks within me that tries to understand how it seems a greater number of humans teeter precariously between accepting that life is a journey overflowing with predictable and unpredictable hills and valleys … and falling into complete desperation, hopelessness and selfishness without any regard for the tragic consequences of their actions.

Too many children around this country instantly lost their innocence, faith and trust at its most basic human level this week when news erupted of the mother in Florida who confessed to shooting to death her teen son and daughter because they were too "mouthy." The most in-depth thesaurus in the world has no words adequate enough to describe this tragedy. News accounts report that a special "stress team" was brought in to assist the law enforcement officials who discovered and had to deal with this horrific scene.

The photographs of the mother on her way to and from jail are haunting with facial expressions of what are probably total madness at that stage. Was she insane? We have to wonder, how could she not be for firing bullets into her children's brains?

As human observers, we truly mourn the senseless loss of two young lives, two "normal" teens. However, at a deeper level, we should grieve the loss of innocence of a generation of children who will now wonder if their mom or dad would do the same to them. Perhaps therein lies the greater tragedy …

Continued tomorrow … because I need sleep now …

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