Something must be seriously wrong
Oct. 23rd, 2004 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dream_labyrinthWarning: I am going to tell about some things that have been on the news around here lately. I don't feel like researching and giving you links though, so you just have to believe me.
Last winter, a young woman gave birth to a child and then put it underneath a pile of leaves in a university parking lot. On a weekend, making sure that there wouldn't be anybody around who might find the child in time. The baby was healthy and strong, but it froze to death, as she didn't even give him a blanket or anything.
Her reasoning apparently was that having a baby was highly inconvenient. She was doing a job training and had agreed with her boyfriend she wouldn't have a child (apart from their son, who is I think 9 or so) until after she finished the training.
The people who met her on a day to day basis, including her boyfriend and her mother-in-law, in whose house she was living, all claim they did not know she was pregnant.
There are several things I don't understand. If she didn't want people to know, she could have gone to a hospital and give birth anonymously, giving the child away for adoption. Chances are very good for new-borns to find a new family.
Contraception isn't really difficult to do these days. So she might have prevented the whole pregnancy.
And even if all this had not been the case, why not give the baby at least a chance to survive? Wrap him in a blanket and put him on somebody's doorstep.
It's not the child's fault she thought she had messed up her life so much that she couldn't deal with a child.
Also, how is it possible to be pregnant and not form a connection to the human being inside of you? I have never been pregnant, and I have never given birth, so I can't really say how it feels like. But I always thought that if somebody was so close to me, being part of me, it would mean something to me. No matter how unwanted in the beginning. I thought that feeling a baby move would make the mother realize that this is a person, a living being.
A man has just admitted to killing the twin sons (5 months old) of his girlfriend. He killed them because their wailing annoyed him.
Should there not be some sort of reflex, an instinct, that would keep people from killing the young? Especially for so little a reason, no reason at all, actually.
A little boy was raped in the back room of a pub, and killed, and none of the people in the pub knew or saw anything.
Has it always been like that?
It seems to me that people care less about what is going on around them, and care less about other people. There was another case of a multiple murderer talking about how it felt to stab somebody, in the most relaxed way. Are these people all mentally challenged in some way?
And why do so many people just look the other way? Pretending they didn't see, telling themselves they didn't see anything so often that they will believe it in the end.
And there are so many other incidents. An elderly woman breaking down in town with a heart attack, and nobody trying to help her. A man tripping in the pedestrian zone and hurting his head, bleeding, and nobody helped.
I'd rather people ask me wether something was wrong when I was okay, instead of not having anybody to help me when I need help. I'd rather ask whether I can help somebody and be thought nosy than not do anything and then feel responsible for something I could have prevented.
Last winter, a young woman gave birth to a child and then put it underneath a pile of leaves in a university parking lot. On a weekend, making sure that there wouldn't be anybody around who might find the child in time. The baby was healthy and strong, but it froze to death, as she didn't even give him a blanket or anything.
Her reasoning apparently was that having a baby was highly inconvenient. She was doing a job training and had agreed with her boyfriend she wouldn't have a child (apart from their son, who is I think 9 or so) until after she finished the training.
The people who met her on a day to day basis, including her boyfriend and her mother-in-law, in whose house she was living, all claim they did not know she was pregnant.
There are several things I don't understand. If she didn't want people to know, she could have gone to a hospital and give birth anonymously, giving the child away for adoption. Chances are very good for new-borns to find a new family.
Contraception isn't really difficult to do these days. So she might have prevented the whole pregnancy.
And even if all this had not been the case, why not give the baby at least a chance to survive? Wrap him in a blanket and put him on somebody's doorstep.
It's not the child's fault she thought she had messed up her life so much that she couldn't deal with a child.
Also, how is it possible to be pregnant and not form a connection to the human being inside of you? I have never been pregnant, and I have never given birth, so I can't really say how it feels like. But I always thought that if somebody was so close to me, being part of me, it would mean something to me. No matter how unwanted in the beginning. I thought that feeling a baby move would make the mother realize that this is a person, a living being.
A man has just admitted to killing the twin sons (5 months old) of his girlfriend. He killed them because their wailing annoyed him.
Should there not be some sort of reflex, an instinct, that would keep people from killing the young? Especially for so little a reason, no reason at all, actually.
A little boy was raped in the back room of a pub, and killed, and none of the people in the pub knew or saw anything.
Has it always been like that?
It seems to me that people care less about what is going on around them, and care less about other people. There was another case of a multiple murderer talking about how it felt to stab somebody, in the most relaxed way. Are these people all mentally challenged in some way?
And why do so many people just look the other way? Pretending they didn't see, telling themselves they didn't see anything so often that they will believe it in the end.
And there are so many other incidents. An elderly woman breaking down in town with a heart attack, and nobody trying to help her. A man tripping in the pedestrian zone and hurting his head, bleeding, and nobody helped.
I'd rather people ask me wether something was wrong when I was okay, instead of not having anybody to help me when I need help. I'd rather ask whether I can help somebody and be thought nosy than not do anything and then feel responsible for something I could have prevented.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 03:17 pm (UTC)First, people don't want to 'get involved'. I have a friend from my romance community who's husband was hit by a car and left to lay bleeding on the sidewalk - in New York City. He laid there for nearly 30 minutes before a woman pushing a stroller stopped to ask him if he was alright then called 911 on her cell phone. This was at 6pm on a very public (and in NY, aren't they all) street. Amazing to me how hundreds of people could walk past a man laying on the pavement with a broken pelvis and bleeding.
Anyway - there are stories here all of the time about mothers abandoning newborn babies. One of the most frightening was a few years back, a girl gave birth at her senior prom, stuffed the baby in the trashcan and continued with dancing/partying after the fact. Why on earth don't these girls give up the baby for adoption? Is it the shame in someone knowing you are pregnant?
I know when I was pregnant with Alex (who is now 3) I was in love with him even when he was in the womb. I treasured every kick and roll he did. I read out-loud to him while I was pregnant. After he was born, there were times when I'd sit and cry because he was now a separate entity from me - I wanted him back inside my belly where I knew he would be safe and no one would ever hurt him. I felt I couldn't protect him anymore.
Then again, I've always wanted a child. I love my son more than I ever imagined I would (and I'd imagined a great deal). I just have such a difficult time with people who don't have this sort of connection with their children. How can that be? How can you not love your child? Or do another child harm? I realize there are people in the world like this, but I just don't understand it at all.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 03:49 pm (UTC)That story about the girl is incredible. IMO, she can't even say as an excuse that she was confused and upset or anything, because she was still fine enough to go dancing. That is plain murder.
I might understand that a person doesn't love their children, or children in general, but every adult should have enough morals or ethical values, or religion if you want, to keep them from doing things like this to innocent children. It's not the children's fault that some people can't deal with their lives.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 06:22 pm (UTC)At least it's definitely not a new phenomenon.
Most well-known example:
Kitty Genovese
Have you ever read "Watchmen"? In case you haven't, I won't spoil anything here, but let me say I can totally relate to Rorschach's history.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-23 09:16 pm (UTC)Disgusting, really.
No, I haven't read "Watchmen". What sort of book is that?
no subject
Date: 2004-10-24 08:44 pm (UTC)One of the series' premises was to investigate the question "what if superheroes really existed?", dealing with their impact on society and politics (including a US victory in Vietnam).
Rorschach is one of those heroes, but he's also a paranoid homicidal maniac. One of the twelve original issues was mainly dedicated to Rorschach's origins. A Kitty Genovese-like event plays a major role in his decision to don a mask and become a vigilante (though this is not what drives him over the edge into madness).
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 01:37 am (UTC)