Wednesday, June 18, 2008

It's Wednesday, and all the news is depressing

It seems that the great state of Indiana is continuing her trend of only being in the news for profoundly sad or embarrassing stories... Like this one out of Frankfort - a Guatemalan woman has, apparently, abandoned her 2.5 year old at Walmart. He was found with cups, diapers, and toys in his backpack, along with a note (written in Spanish) that basically said, "We're starving and I can't take care of him anymore..."

Holy crap. He's Mary Grace's age.

I can't even fathom how bad it must have been for this poor mother, to feel that her only option in life to protect her son was to leave him at Walmart. Frankfort has a large Hispanic community for a town of its size (there used to be a Del Monte factory there, and a lot of Hispanics used to harvest the tomatoes, and when the factory closed, a lot of them stayed... I did my student teaching there, in a school where 78% of the kids spoke Spanish at home, and like 93% of the students (overall) were on the free/reduced lunch program). Knowing what I know about the Hispanic community, in general, it seems incredible to me that this woman was completely alone, with no one to help her navigate the network of social services... She must have been passing through from somewhere else, because so far they haven't been able to locate anyone who knows little Martin or his mom. That's very unusual in such a small town. Apparently they came to the US a year ago, and the boy's father abandoned the boy's mother and Martin about 10 months ago.

God love her. I hope she's able to find information about her son, to know that he's ok, and maybe to learn that there are more people who want to help her than who want to punish her for what she did. Maybe she'll come back, be reunited with her child, and get the help she needs.

And, in wince-worthy news, apparently a puppy in Fort Wayne bit a one month old boy's testicles and removed them from his scrotum (I'll wait, guys, take a minute). The puppy was unavailable for comment because the owners had his vicious ass destroyed, and good riddance.

2 comments:

Have the T-shirt said...

Well you are just sunshine and light today my dear....this is exactly why I avoid reading the paper or watching the news.

I like my head firmly planted in the sand :P

Seriously though, that poor mother, to feel your only option was to leave your child at Walmart.

Sad.

My Kids' Mom said...

I grew up in Indy and may have only made matters worse, moving to Georgia. Back-asswards to be sure. I avoid local news whenever I can help it.