FORGOTTEN

News from today's headlines

Another murder, another robbery, another crime.

But one thing to this day,

Still disturbconfounds me in a most confounding way.

Why?

How?

Why?

How could you forget a child?

A six month old baby

In a car

In sticky, sweltering heat

Alone

A child locked in a car

Alone for 5-1/2 hours

A child locked in a car

Alone and sweating, gasping

A child locked in a car

Alone and dying

A child locked in a car

Alone and dead.

This is inconceivable.

To a parent, to me, this is inconceivable.

My parents never would have left me alone at home,

Much less alone in a car.

As a suckling baby, my mother held me close to her breast.

And my father, daddy's little girl was always held near to his heart.

I was their lifeblood,

Their cord of communion,

Their reason for being.

And since I am part of them,

The lifeline continues.

As a mother myself, I feel the cord of communion

Between me and my children

Stretch thin

When I am not with them.

The bond between my parents, me, my children, is strong.

But these two parents,

These two people who brought this tiny, little life into the world,

How could they forget?

How could they forget their lifeblood?

How could they forget their reason for being

In a hot car

On a hot day

When they dropped their four year old off at daycare only minutes before?

The four year old sat in the same back seat as the baby!

How could they forget?

Is their bond not strong?

Enough?

A Michigan mother went into a salon because she wanted a new do.

But she didn't want her two kids in there, too.

So, she locked them in the car

While she took her time inside.

3-1/2 hours to be exact,

And when she got back,

She found her children expired,

Police surrounding

The car on fire inside.

Now she finds herself locked in,

Booked on two counts of Murder II

Over a hairstyle?

How could she forget?

Is the bond not strong?

Enough?

Or in the case of Dallas Nelson

Nine month old baby boy

Strapped in the back of his parents' SUV

In hot weather

About 105 degrees.

Pulled out alive,

But pulled off life support two days later and died.

The mother thought her friend got the baby out of the car.

The friend thought the mother got the baby out of the car.

Tragic mistake in this case,

But the end result is still the same.

Another child dies because mommy and daddy left him behind.

Is the bond not strong?

Enough?

(7-6-2001)

(rev. 8-14-2002)