"We had to grow up because we did not die."
Sometimes I have an idea for a blogpost. I might even begin writing it and then a little warning light flashes faintly deep in the dark forest of my mind. The warning light suggests that I might have blogged on the topic before. As they say - what goes around comes around.
That's when I make use of the blog search facility which can be extremely helpful. Then sure enough, in most instances, I discover that what I thought was new is not new at all. The topic or the idea, the whim or the fancy has already been addressed. Ah well, I console myself that we cannot remember everything.
This is what happened earlier this week. In my photo library I had rediscovered a black and white photograph snapped in the summer of 1959. It was of my first class at primary school with our teacher, Miss Readhead, standing beside us. Quickly I tapped out a nostalgic blogpost and clicked "publish".
Ten minutes later the light in the forest began to flash. I duly checked and sure enough I had written a similar post just last year. Consequently, I deleted the new post but not before a dozen visitors had seen it.
One of them even wrote a comment. She reflected on her own childhood which was blighted by a man she should have been able to trust. In comparison, my own childhood was quite innocent and carefree - as childhood is meant to be. The epigram at the top of this post was taken from that comment.
Human thinking can jump around. Things connect often in peculiar ways. I found myself contemplating a six year old boy called Arthur Labinjo-Hughes who has touched the hearts of so many in this land over the last couple of weeks. He died last year in the most horrible circumstances while in the "care" of his father and cruel step-mother. He was crying out for help but nobody listened. His birth mother was in prison and now the pair who effectively killed him are in jail too. Here was Arthur on his way to school with his whole life ahead of him:-
I feel quite sick thinking about what that poor child went through. It is unbelievable to me how cruel some humans can be.
ReplyDeleteTragic. We shake our heads in disbelief.
DeleteI think many have been shattered by the terrible death of this bright little boy. I watched someone plant a tree in a memory wood in the Lake District, virtually of course, the tragedy hits everyone. No matter how we call for justice and oversight it will never bring back his life. It was the saddest of events.
ReplyDeleteThank God for all the social workers and other professionals whose good work stops so many similar tragedies.
DeleteHeartbreaking to know so many children never get a crack at childhood.
DeleteThis hits very close to home for me and I'm thankful Jack is safe with us. But what that poor boy suffered before he died, it's too awful to think about. How can anyone treat a child, or anyone, like that?
ReplyDeleteIt beggars belief.
DeleteI've done the same thing many a time though I typically haven't removed the duplicate post. The people reading my blog now and the ones that read it way back then are almost entirely different. In fact, I can only think of one person who has been around all that time. I also find it interesting to see how my mind emphasized different things in posts 20 years apart. Some things age well and others don't.
ReplyDeleteLike me you have been blogging for a long time Ed and just as life has changed we have changed too. I look back to 2005 or 2006 and I think, "Was that really me?"
DeleteSo many of us, including me, found what happened to this little boy extremely upsetting. However, I do have to wonder whether the fact he was white and photogenic is part of why it created such an impact, when there have been other awful cases which haven't.
ReplyDeleteYou ask an interesting question.but I am not sure of the answer at all.
DeleteI think almost everyone who hears that story wishes they could have rescued Arthur. It's unfathomable that an adult -- and especially a biological parent -- could be so inhumane. You have to wonder what their own childhoods were like.
ReplyDeleteGood point Steve. People who commit horrible crimes have often emerged from troubled backgrounds though this does not exonerate them in any way.
DeleteWhat a sweet little boy and a heartbreaking tragedy. I'm sure I've posted similar things but I always look at it as "I have new readers who don't know this about me." I saw the post on my reader but it was already gone.
ReplyDeleteCould my forgetfulness be the first glimmering of dementia rising?
DeleteEvery time I see his happy little face I want to cry for what he endured, being starved and beaten. He looks so happy and trusting, and had that selfish hag looking after him. It makes me so angry 😠😠😠.
ReplyDeleteHe was a good looking little lad wasn't he? With a happy mischievousness in his innocent eyes.
DeleteThat poor little boy. So adorable and yet killed by the people who were supposed to love and nurture him!
ReplyDeleteThey now have plenty of time to reflect upon their wrongdoing.
DeleteThat's heartbreaking about the poor boy. Once someone clicks publish, it will come through on my feed regardless of being immediately deleted. Sometimes I think we could put posts on a slow rotation and no one would notice.
ReplyDeleteLike rotisserie chickens...
DeleteAnd sometimes I also think I wrote a post before. Arthur is an extremely sad story. There are too many Arthurs.
ReplyDeleteYes. Too many Arthurs. I think of the native American children who died in institutions in Canada. They were also Arthurs.
DeleteWhat a terrible tragedy that Arthur suffered so much, yet why were other members of his family, or neighbours, not aware of the situation? Surely someone, grandparents or other family members, must have noticed that the poor child was emaciated? I've read that the two other children in the family were treated normally, so why did the adults abuse poor little Arthur?
ReplyDeleteI do not have the answers but some did try to raise the alarm.
DeleteMy own precious grandson is a 6 year old blond little boy and adored by us all, how tragic this wee soul had such a miserable life, my heart aches for him and what he went through.
ReplyDelete