Tears, Thoughts, Time... Tommy

Tears, Thoughts, Time...  Tommy

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Artwork by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee.... 'Just A Doodle'

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This evening I find myself easily in tears.  Life, death... death, life.  Watching the news, I see that nineteen firefighters lost their lives.  I felt such pain inside thinking of their mothers, wives, children, fathers, sisters, and brothers.  I wanted to weep... but...

The news went on to show a little child taken hostage in a local Walmart.  A mother walked to the counter to look at maybe packages of meat, or cheese.  She had two children, one old enough to walk beside the shopping cart... one inside the cart.

A big guy moved, took her child out of the shopping cart as soon as the mother's back turned.  He began making demands... people called the police.  Soon, they were there talking to him.  A hostage negotiator was brought in...  

He talked on the news...  He came in... not knowing how it all began, making his job difficult. The negotiator began talking, the big guy told him that he had 60 seconds to give in to his demands... or he'd kill the child. Once he put a time on it, the hostage negotiator had no choice but, to...

Walk over to the big guy who was sitting in a chair with a knife to the child's stomach... shoot the hostage taker in the head.  The hostage negotiator said once the hostage taker put a time on 'when he was killing the child'... he had no choice.

Sadness, pain while watching the mother who was beside herself as she was trying to get her baby back... the police forcibly removing her from the scene.  What was going through that poor mother's mind?   

One thing after the other... so much pain, so much grief.  It affected me, making me tearful this evening.  Tearful for the pain of wives, children, fathers, mothers grieving for their sons who died trying to fight an uncontrollable fire in Arizona to save others, their homes. 

I thought of my own son.  It's only natural that I do... I know this.  It still doesn't lessen the pain... it doesn't make any difference.  He still died... no matter how... he died.

I wonder how many people feel pain for others as they watch the evening news?  Shed tears over the pain of others?  

This is sort of how my evening has been.  Now... I am looking forward to watching 'Under The Dome'... tonight.  I think my tears are gone until, I see the news tomorrow morning.  Someone always dies during the night... someone is shot; there's a wreck... something is always happening now.  

Strange enough... I never see a 'dent in the population' from all the deaths I know of in my lifetime.  Do you?  Have you ever thought about such things?  I'm always thinking... there's no telling what I'll think of next.  Oh, I had plenty of unanswered questions as a child... the adults would just tell me to 'shut up'.....  :)))

In today's time... I don't think adults do that now.  Children are big thinkers; smart as whips.  Adults encourage children to think, speak for themselves.  I remember being told... 'children are meant to be seen... not heard'.

This evening has been tears, thoughts back in time, and ... Tommy.