Thursday, January 04, 2007

Value of Babies

**before you read this, I now know details and they are this. Miscommunication happens. Especially when you get the story third hand. But when one guy tells the next guy that they got a weird call and the next guy says "oh I heard about that on TV this morning" so guy number one calls gets a call from his friend in the middle of trying to figure out what has to be done and tells his friend that he will call back after he takes care of calling the police....well, you get the picture. No dumpster baby. Not yesterday, anyway. But the thought is still disturbing so I thought I'd leave the post. C-J

I'm distraught this morning. A friend of ours owns a business establishment that got a "prank call" Tuesday night about a baby in a dumpster. There was a dead baby found yesterday morning.

Those details are pretty sketchy. I know that. Like, was the baby found in their dumpster or halfway across the city? What did the caller say? Do they get calls like this often? And our friend is pretty bound up in calls to the police for us to get more details yet.

My first reaction, right after the wretching that my stomach insisted upon doing, was anger at the guy who answered the phone. Was he so busy he couldn't peek into the dumpster out back and make sure it didn't hold a crying baby?

My second reaction is anger at the mother. We live in a day and time when she could drop that baby at any fire station or hospital and walk away. At the very least, a doorstep. Why a dumpster? Why are children so disregarded we put them out with the garbage? And, come on, have some originality? Does this have to happen twice a year?

Hubs says "drugs." Or that maybe the baby was already dead (and mom didn't want any questions) and checking wouldn't have saved it and we don't yet know if it was their dumpster or one across town and this is just a weird coincidence.

I'm just disturbed regardless of the answers.

You know what I was doing Tuesday? I was on the web looking at children who need a home, and hoping to provide it sooner than later. I know that I am a little wacky that way. Not everyone is like me and I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is that either myself or one of my sisters would have taken that baby in. And I know there are thousand of others who would have as well.

So why the dumpster?

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