Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Name in the Newspaper

They are random names, stories of the worst and the best moments of one person's lives. We are all guilty of making snap judgments, we all have the answers to the world's problems. With the Internet and the ability for every man to give their two cents brings you this blog post.
A friend just lost her sister in a horrible way. A life of drugs met her end alone, in a house deserted. Her story came to the paper and the Internet and every asshole found the need to comment. And my friend read some.
I told her to stop. I told her not to read them. I know the hurt it can cause. I have been there.
A sixteen year old murderer is news-worthy. I read the stories. I saw the things written about him. And my sister.
People adding their two cents. Their ideas of what should be done.
"Hang them high"
The mobbed was formed.
I feared for my sister's life days, weeks and months after my nephew did what he did.
I understand those who don't have the ability to sympathize with those who make bad choices. I am there sometimes with you.
This weekend in my home town there was outrage over a man who killed two women and two children. Two mothers and both of their children. The man the father and he was running free.
I was horrified. How could he? Find him and lock him up and throw away the key!
The man's family pleaded with him, a woman maybe this man's sister cried. I felt for her. I know how it feels. I am sure many didn't have sympathy, but I did. I wanted to reach into the T.V. and hold her. Tell her it will be okay. Remind her we are our family but we are not their choices.
Having hurtful words said about the ones we love is hard, no matter what they did. We remember a time when those people gave of themselves. We remember the good times. We saw them at their best and when the worst comes it is hard to separate it all.
Remember our words have power.
Although bad choices are selfish in nature their effects are endless, they ripple out to sea beyond what the eye can see.
Remember that newspaper story isn't always black and white. That the faces and the names are attached to people that are even more horrified and scared then you can imagine.

3 comments:

  1. I found a video on YouTube that actually speaks to this VERY thing. People can be so callous. This video is an original song, by a friend of mine, who happens to be one of the best singer/songwriters you will ever hear. I hope this will link for you. If it doesn't...look up Mysti Mayhem on YouTube and the song is called, "In Other News." It fits so perfectly with your blog post.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5opkokYWts

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  2. Sorry for double posting, but I wanted to tell you that I remembered this video of Mysti's while I was reading your post. I had to go hunt it down. But I did want you to know that it's sincere and was born out of her own personal crisis and having experienced what it feels like to just be considered "news" that people talk, never considering the pain they might cause. Anyway...sorry for rambling. That was a lovely post and I forgot to tell you that.

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  3. Wow, Susan, you are so right. I was reading about the man who killed all the people at Fort Wood, and it hit me that there is another tragedy to this story: that this man was so depressed/mentally ill that he would hurt so many people. I agree that we need to feel sympathy, especially for the family of the perpetrators. They are suffering too, because they have lost their loved ones, even if they haven't actually died.

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Thanks for your comments- they are like pennies from heaven.