Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
He Shot a Baby
A bad man walked into a church and he shot a baby. Do we need to know anything else?
Have you ever held a baby?
This baby, a little boy, was 18 months old. Have you ever held an 18-month old baby?
Ever felt that weight in your arms? Felt a baby’s arms around your neck and his head on your shoulder? Has a baby you were holding ever played with your necklace and pulled it so hard you worried it would break? Have you felt a baby curve his body into yours so you feel like one joined human being and felt so grateful that God gave you this chance to be a haven to this baby, to be his mother. Have you ever held a baby who was sleeping so soundly his legs went limp and his arms fell from around your neck so you had to hold him with both of your arms? Have you held a baby for a long time, so grateful he’s being quiet in church, that the heat from his body makes your shirt damp and you want so badly to peel him off, lay him on the church pew but you dare not lest he wake up and disturb the other people who are all praying.
I have.
10 Comments on “He Shot a Baby”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
Yes I have and this reality we live in is scary and painful, but your words express it so poignantly. 💕
I’m all for gun control. But I also realize that the problems underneath will still exist. The piece I wrestle with is–how do people get to the point where they can be so inhuman? And how do we stop that piece?
I don’t know. But I do know that if a very angry or very sick person doesn’t have an AR-15, he can’t kill 26 people in a few minutes.
I’ve said as much to my teenager when we talk about gun control. So very true.
Yes Jan, I’ve done all those things with very small babies and all my own – but it was a crucifix not a necklace. And it’s one of the most heartwarming things you can do. But I’ve also been on the receiving end of your horror. My 3 month old adorable little daughter and her mother, my first wife, were killed by a mortar shell in front of me in Vietnam. That was 48 years ago and both the love and the sorrow of that moment is with me every day, in my heart, my prayers and my love of my present family.
This is so powerful!
i have no words.
Heartbreaking.
He also shot a pregnant woman. Guns need to be banned frankly, and until we enlist some draconian measures and say the heck with the 2nd amendment nuts that want to play Rambo, this sort of thing will continue. no one except police or military should ever have access to guns. they are no longer single shot muzzle loading weapons.
Suze, the 2nd amendment only allows people to bear arms if they are part of the armed services, or a millitia formed by an authorized state government to protect citizens in a time of civil war. If it was enforced as intended no civilians would have the right to carry guns!