November 27, 2007

Baby Grace

The news of the two year old girl, whose body washed up on shore in a blue plastic box, in Galveston Bay last month, is sad. Her body has been identified, now, and she was from here, in Ohio. It seems that her mother met a man on the Internet, and moved to Texas to be with him. I started to say, "sad and shocking," when I began to write, but I have to be honest and admit that I was not shocked, and that is really sad. Such things have become such a common occurence, that when a child is missing, we expect the worst because that is usually the outcome...the worst.

I don't know what has happened to society. I don't know what has become of the respect for human life. I don't know what has caused people to look upon their children as nothing more than a hindrance, and something to be gotten rid of--for what? Convenience?

I don't understand how anyone could intentionally, physically, hurt another, much less, a helpless child. For every single one that we hear of being harmed, or killed, how many others are there, that no one knows about? When I think about the horror that these helpless innocents must have endured, it becomes almost too much to think about.

I remember when I was about fourteen years old, there was a couple who lived next door. They had a couple of children, one of them being a little girl, about two or three years old. I'm not sure, but I think she had been married before, and the children were from that marriage. I could hear the two of them arguing, and the thing that I remember most, was how she would scream and curse him, and the children. The little girl was like a scared little mouse, and whenever she would see me outside, she would hold her arms out to me, and say, "Take me," and I would pick her up, and hold her, of course.

One morning, very early, I heard the mother fussing, and yelling. I looked out, and saw the little girl standing at the edge of the stone wall which edged their yard, which was a level up from ours. It was very cold out, and she was standing there in her little nightie, holding her arms out, in the direction of our house, saying, "Take me! Baby, take me!" I went out, and she jumped down, into my arms. Her little body was shivering, and her skin was blue-mottled from the cold. I sat on my porch with her, wrapped her up in something,( I have forgotten what by now) and she snuggled as close as possible to me, as the yelling and cursing continued. In a few minutes, the door slams, and he is leaving, going fishing, and as he walks across the yard to his car, she screams at him, calling him a name, saying, "I hope you never come back! I hope I never see you again!" Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. He never came back, and she never saw him, alive, again. He was fishing at a dam, and fell into the rough waters, and drowned.

I'm sure you must be wondering what any of this has to do with what I started out writing about..the little girl from Ohio, and how anyone can mistreat a child, but I guess in my mind, somehow, it is all connected. I know that the little neighbor girl must have been abused, because I saw the marks and bruises on her body, and besides that, she certainly was verbally abused. But why? Did the mother take the frustration with her husband out on the little girl? I'm sure that she never went to the extreme of inflicting deadly harm on her child, but I do wonder if it had been in today's society, if it would have been different, because it seems that there are less boundaries set today, on a personal level, despite all the laws in effect to prevent, and to punish such behavior.

I don't know the reasons why Baby Grace (as the Texas authorities named her) was murdered and disposed of like so much refuse, but from what I see on the news here, she did have a daddy and a grandmother who loved her, and their hearts are broken. There is never a good reason for a heart that is broken.

16 comments:

Michael said...

It is frightening. I wish I could hold all the children who need a pair of arms to be safe in.

Take Care
Michael

Anonymous said...

The utter depression because of how our society has degraded to the point that torturing and killing children and animals has become commonplace is sometimes too much to bear. There is so many things wrong on so many levels, I don't know where we would begin. Like you, perhaps we can only help on child or animal at a time. Every time I hear about such cruelty, I can't help but cry for the senselessness of it. How can such evil live in a human heart?

Anonymous said...

The best thing you can do is move way up into the mountains and get the hell away from society all together. But, then you have to work, so you have to come into town. And you wind us listening to the news, so there's no escape after all.

Jan said...

michael..I know. And I wish there were more who wanted to do that.

sue said...

I, too, find it disheartening how some people treat children and animals... there is too much evil in the world.

Jan said...

rockync..I don't know why, but this quote by Lenin comes to mind: ""The best revolutionary is a youth devoid of morals." Unfortunately, I think that our country is in a moral decline..but that's just my own personal opinion, but the signs are all around.

Jan said...

sue..and there are some folks who treat their animals better than their children.

Anonymous said...

When I think of morals, I don't think of things like sexual conduct but rather of integrity, honesty, kindness and fairness. I think of things like holding all life precious, of good stewardhip of the earth, of setting righteous goals meant to improve the condition of our world and of the desire to help others see their worth and reach their goals. We should be lifting each other up, carrying each other through the tough times and celebrating together the good times. Wouldn't life be simpler and happier that way? Why some people want things miserable and complicated is beyond me.

Jan said...

rockync.. you said,"When I think of morals, I don't think of things like sexual conduct but rather of integrity, honesty, kindness and fairness. I think of things like holding all life precious, of good stewardhip of the earth, of setting righteous goals meant to improve the condition of our world and of the desire to help others see their worth and reach their goals"..I wasn't speaking of sexual things, either, and I don't think that morals have to automatically mean anything like that. I was speaking of all of the qualities that you mentioned when I said that our country is in moral decay...we are losing those very values, which, if not taught at a very early age result in the ills of our society.

Jan said...

hermit..you're right,there is no escape, really, but the top of a mountain sounds pretty good, anyway.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Jan, I knew that; great minds think alike! LOL

Jan said...

rockync..sometimes! LOL

Linda G. said...

I'm bothered too, by the leniency of the courts in these cases. So often they get caught up in the sad early life of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against children. To me, this attitude removes accountability from society as a whole..

Jan said...

sheoflittlebrain..I agree that the courts are way too lenient, and many times the perpetrators get more sympathy than their victims. Already, they are talking about the domestic abuse that the mother received from the father of the child...as if there could be any excuse for what she and her present husband did to her baby.

DNR said...

wow... I had not heard of 'baby grace'. I wonder what became of the little girl you held...

There is one such tragedy in our local news also (http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7422566). We are in instant society and I fear we are too used to things be disposable and instantly replaceable.

(((hugs)))

Jan said...

dnr..I've often wondered what happened to her, too. I hope it was all good, but I doubt it.