Alec is growing up!

 Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

Friday, October 21, 2011

Why oh why

Every time I turn on the news, there is some other horrendous story about a baby, a child, or a mother.

I seriously don't get it. Is it because I am a mum now, that the news just gets to me more? Or is it that crime and violence is on the rise?

I'm not a pro at statistics. Neither am I a pro at guessing what drives things such as violence and crime. But it seriously seems to me that horrible things are happening more frequently. Is it that people are desperate?

I work right down the street from the New Haven, Connecticut, court house. Penalty phase will be beginning next Tuesday in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky. The second and last defendant in the Hawke-Petit arson/triple murder case. Obviously, the headlines have been packed with case information, and the news trucks and vans have been camped out on our street for quite some time. To the uninitiated, the Hawke-Petit case is where two guys, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, broke into a home in Cheshire, Connecticut. They raped and murdered the mother, and the two teenage daughters. The father was beaten almost to death and tied up in the basement until he was able to escape. Then they torched the house. I couldn't even begin to imagine how Mr. Petit feels. His wife and daughters are gone.

I think it's one thing to lose a loved one due to illness or disease, or even to some sort of accident. At least one has some sort of closure. But when you lose someone you love to violence - of any sort - there is no closure. Sure, you can sometimes find out what and how it happened, but you don't know the biggest question of them all: WHY. There is no rhyme or reason to why some people do the things they do.

The other day, there was a story about a lady who chose her unborn child's life over hers. When she was four months pregnant, she was diagnosed with neck and brain cancer. Horrible. Yes. But to chose not to undergo treatment for it (it would have been dangerous to the fetus), knowing that she would die soon, leaving her child parentless, is extremely selfish. I understand the want and the need to have a child, but if it means your child could potentially be left without a parent (the father is not in the picture), then you're a selfish bitch. I'm sorry. That is how I feel. That child will never know her mother, and is being raised by this lady's brother - who already has six children.

Then there is the 10-month old baby, Lisa, who is missing in Missouri. The parents surely have something to do with it. You don't go out and hire the same attorney who represents Joran Van Der Sloot regarding the Natalie Holloway case to represent you if you're not guilty. It's like hiring Johny Cochran when you're not guilty of slaying your ex-wife and her lover.

Then there was the little toddler in China who was run over. Multiple times. And nobody stopped to help her as she lay dying in the middle of a busy marketplace. This one, though, is reminiscent of that time in Hartford, Connecticut, when an old man was hit, and nobody stopped to help. This was all caught on surveillance camera, of course. People just don't care. Period. I think it's a fear of getting involved, as well as just a life philosophy of 'live and let live'. Unfortunately, this old man in Hartford died as a result of his injuries. The little toddler in China, however, is struggling to stay alive (note: as of my last Google search).

Since I work during the day, I come home at night and hold Alec until he tries to shimmy his way out of my arms. I look at him, and I think to myself that Keith and I have created the most beautiful, perfect little human being. I look at him, and ask myself who in their right mind would harm something so small, so peaceful and so full of life? But then I realize that there is no rhyme or reason to they way some people behave.

I know that I cannot and will not be able to shield Alec from everything in life. After all, he has to learn. Of course, he will know that he is loved unconditionally by both Keith and myself. But he will learn that even if he fails, it will make him stronger, and a better person. I can only hope that we can shield him from any dangers life may present to him along the way.