The Violence Of A Child 's Body Bag

Her child had been shot dead as she ran for her life. Luckily for her, the bullet didn’t go through the baby’s body. When she stopped where we stood, she sat on the ground and removed her child. It was a girl, and her eyes were still open, with an interrupted innocent smile on her

A mother and a child. A love that transcends no bounds. To give up a child leaves a hole that nothing can fill. An empty abyss. In the heat of the moment, the mother is convinced that she is doing right by the child. Giving that child a life that they themselves will not be able to give. It hurts to leave, but they know deep down, that the sacrificing of their happiness for the child’s well-being is what is best. In the photograph Mother and child by Jerome Liebling, the mother stands, child in arms, before the steps. Before the steps of giving up the one piece of joy she has in her life. Holding a blank expression on her face, trying not to show any emotion as it would only make what she is about to do harder. She is tired, worn down by the weight of the world. Contemplating what she is about to do, although she knows it will not help.

On July 27, 1981 Adam Walsh was in the toy department of Sears playing video games while his mom shopped in the store. This was quite common in the late seventies and early eighties when a trusting generation let their kids run wild and free. On this particular day a monster watched and waited close by for the perfect opportunity to strike. The opportunity presented itself, a small young boy, all alone. He snatched him and fled. This is every parent's worst nightmare and a horror story that griped the nation. In a matter of seconds, a child was gone and would never be seen alive again.

Tom’s lower lip trembled. “It’s my fault,” he whispered, his eyes shiny with tears. “I was so young, and I didn't know how to stop...”

When Booker grinned back, he relaxed slightly. “Don’t apologize,” the dark-haired officer murmured, and taking Tom’s cold fingers in his, he gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Just keep looking at me and it’ll be over before you know it.”

“My father killed my mother,” he says eventually. It’s horribly casual, the way the words tumble out of his mouth, but he can’t think of any other way to say them.

The boy and the father have strong morals demonstrating a high level of authenticity, especially in a world where morality is extremely uncommon. To be ‘authentic’ means to genuinely be yourself. Although, as presented by Existentialism, one cannot be their true self until one has defined themselves. First, one must create their authentic selves, then they must live according to that (Varga). The father and the boy have strong principles to do what is right, even when their fellow survivors have completely abandoned morality altogether. At times, the father struggles with following said principles, however, he then justifies his actions which are purely for the safety of his son. This depicts that the father will do anything and everything to assure that the boy lives. The father expresses that “He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke” (5). When a man holds a knife to the son's neck, the father does not hesitate to kill him. Although this is

The central character in which the story takes off upon is Mitchell Stephens. He is drawn into this case by his own anger. He has his own sense of suffering and confusion toward his own daughter. Stephens is torn by his urge to save her and his fear that he can't possibly do so. He recalls the flashback of his little girl as a toddler at a near death experience and him as her father while singing to her, held her life in his own hands prepared to perform an emergency tracheotomy. And in that way, Stephens' own experience bonds together with the nightmare of those pain stricken parents: the ultimate unbearable burden of caring for children where strength will be tested beyond its limits. Stephen's own daughter in whom he loves dearly has been taken away from him although she is not dead; she is practically gone out of his life. He is pissed off, "enough rage and helplessness, your love turns to steamy piss." (101). Stephen is set to find the cause, something or someone to blame for their misfortunes and to rage against whatever forces took their child, "I don't know if it was the Vietnam war…I don't know

"I gouged his eyes out..." His eyes erupted into a cascade of sorrow as he silently sobbed. I could only stare for the longest time til my mind could comprehend the possibility.

It was a cloudy day, a mild 78 degrees and Lezley McSpadden was taking a drag of her cigarette outside of the local grocery store where she was employed. She was midway through her shift when a friend of hers called and said that someone had been shot by Canfield Green Apartments. Maybe it’s only a mother’s instinct to recoil in fear, but in that moment Lezley could think only of her son Michael. Michael had recently graduated three months before and she wasn’t sure of his

The focus of this story is laid upon the child who is kept in the damp room without windows in a basement. He is filthy and devoid of any sunlight in the room being removed from any social contact. On the contrary, some of the citizens come and peer at the child to see who brings them a sort of joy and comfort in their lives. “Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children...depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery” (Guin 3). While adults accept the situation with the child, little children come feeling rage and shock as well as considering how to help the imprisoned. At this stage, they feel despair and compassion to him; however, they can not exchange their beautiful life for the sake of one child.

“I got up, ran outside, started yelling his name, asking around. And there were two guys here, both working on their cars, jumping their cars.”

“Please, Scott.” You felt a ball forming in your throat—you didn’t want to cry but you couldn’t help it. You felt a tear stream down your face, “I’m scared...”

Ambulance Driver: The child drowned due to the mother’s negligence. Again, the ambulance driver is not an expert on the matter and has not done any investigation to determine the mother was negligent on the care of the child. This is also a biased statement.

Ellie and I lay in our beds, neither one of us knew what to say. In the other room, our host parents were arguing. We didn’t know what about, but we knew it was serious. Then we heard a “THWACK” followed by silence. Ellie and I sat up in our beds and looked at each other, I could tell she was as scared as I was. “Was that? Did he just?” she asked me. Then the arguing started back up again. We calmed back down until we heard it again. “THWACK” We knew then, the noise we heard, was him beating her. We got up, our hearts racing; neither of us knew what to do. We got our nerves together to go get help. When we opened the door to our room we saw the children sitting on the couch crying out for their mother. I could see the fear in their face and I knew something needed to change.