Color Me Butterfly

One of the saddest things that sit at the top of my heart is Our Children.  It is unfortunately a startling reality that three to five children are killed by their parents every day, in the U.S. alone, according to the American Anthropological Association.

My heart bled when I heard the news of how six children, all of whom are local to where I live, were killed within weeks of each other.  The first was on March 27th where police found the remains of four young children in the family’s townhouse in Frederick, Maryland, along with the hanged body of their father, Pedro Rodrigues.  To this day, their mother is still missing.  Then approximately 20 miles away, on April 3rd, Carol Danforth found the hunged bodies of her one-year old son and her two-year old daughter in the woods after receiving a threatening call from the children’s father, Gerardo Rogue, whom had also hanged himself nearby.

One mother is missing, the other grieving; and both have lost something more precious than one could ever imagine… their children.  I can’t even begin to describe the hole that would burst my heart if these were my children.  I can’t even begin to imagine how someone’s distorted, twisted mind would convince them that the best way to resolve a domestic dispute is to hurt innocent children.  I can’t even begin to fathom that there is any amount of justice for such a horrible, horrible crime.  The only thing that I can believe in is hope -- the hope that something must and will be done to protect our children.

We are living in sad times when there exists a reality that children are killed in domestic violent related deaths; many of which are a result of fathers who kill their children then commit suicide; or mothers with long histories of domestic violence who attempts a joint suicide of themselves and their children; or a father who kills the partner they’ve been abusing, kills the children, and then kill themselves. 

There is no amount of words in the Webster’s Dictionary that can begin to help me to make sense of something that is senseless.  The only thing that I can say is that I hope that someday, somehow, in some way, there will come change or a miracle to protect Our Children.

My heart goes out to all the children and families that has been affected by this terrible reality.