Concrete Angel(s)

“A statue stands in a shaded place

An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot” 
― Martina Mcbride


Driving home today from work i found myself stopped at a corner, waiting for the cars in a hurry to pass by- off to their own destinations here and there, everyone more in a hurry than the last. So, I try to be less in an emergency myself.. and so, I  sit to wait for the traffic to move on. I look to my left then to my right to make sure all is well, but just as I start to ease forward , i notice two small children getting off of the yellow school bus in front of me.

The girls couldn't have been older than 5 and 4, give or take... and as the two held hands and continued on past the 1st, the 2nd, and the 3rd house past the bus stop... I found myself looking in the rear view mirror, wondering just how far these two had to go..before their mother or father- stepped out happily from their door steps - to greet them home from their long day at grade school. To unbundle them from the cool fall day.. to empty out their backpacks to see the notes from the teachers, to sit them down for a snack in front of their favorite afternoon cartoon?

Then, as i lost them in the distance... I felt overwhelmingly sad. I wondered... did they have someone waiting for them at home?

I was listening just the other day to the radio, sponsoring their annual "Roof-sit-for-kids" benefit. They announced that they raised almost 150,000 dollars to go towards prevention and other areas of need involving child abuse all over michigan. I learned several years ago though, to not pay too much listening time to that particular time of year for the radio. It's too sad.

It's a lifetime movie that you can't turn off, or switch to another happy channel- because you know that what you're turning off- is real for someone. The pain, and sorrow and awful reality of these petrifying stories of child abuse, neglect and complete lack of humanity... are true.

I always shake my head, because that's all that i can do, at stories like this. Terrifying clips on the news depicting another fatality for a child lost to the hands of his or her own mother or father, or someone else in their life who they were supposed to be in "safe hands" with. It's like we've become immune to these stories. Stories set aside in the line-up next to the evening weather, and evening sports clip... Another typical reason why i do not watch the news.

As an important side note. If there is a Hell where people who have done immeasurable Bad on Earth--- I would hope there is a special place for anyone who has done any hurt or irreparable harm to children here.