Home > So, what do you think? > Archives > 2008 > June > 16 > Entry
When the news is so bad, it hurts
Here’s an editorial that will run in Tuesday’s edition of the Telegram:
There are times when news is so awful it’s impossible to make sense of it all.
Last week began with a jubilant Rocky Mount homecoming of National Guard troops from Iraq. By midweek, we found ourselves reeling in the wake of a nursing home shooting that left two people dead and one person wounded. By Friday we were all but numb trying to comprehend the cruelty of a case in which a 13-year-old boy was tied to a tree for “misbehaving.” He died Thursday afternoon.
The mind sinks asking just the simplest of questions. Why? How? What were they thinking? No easy answers arrive and probably never will. It’s so awful it hurts.
The Twin Counties community has worked together to overcome so much through the years. From hurricanes to floods to fostering better relations among ourselves to welcoming refugees from Katrina to lending a hand and support to causes as great as the Red Cross, United Way, Salvation Army and more.
We’ve seen this community at its best under the worst circumstances imaginable. Sadly, we’ve seen its worst in times of senseless tragedy.
We’re good people. We have differences of opinion, sure, but that’s only natural when two or more people have different ideas about what’s best for a community.
We’ll pull back together in the wake of this, and one of the big-hearted souls who makes Rocky Mount so caring will find a way to make yet another positive difference in this world.
You can’t imagine how much we look forward to reporting that kind of news again.
Comments
By ken
June 16, 2008 3:15 PM | Link to this
so very well put, Jeff; no doubt many of us feel the same way.
I think Rocky Mount has come a long way—in fact, maybe even ahead of the game in some areas compared to other parts of the nation. We ARE one city.
the young boy from Macclesfield. how terrible. his life? apparently his mother died a few years earlier. step-mom and dad get together; I think she came from Florida? they moved to the small town of Macclesfield—and then home-schooling.
Many good sides to home schooling, but in this young boy’s case, looks like he had been cut off from the rest of the world—no chance to interact with city teams, public school classmates, nor teachers and school professionals who would have seen danger signs for the boys emotional health—not to forget his physical health.
I know you and your staff hear more than the rest of the public, even if it’s not reported-so you have the burden to carry of hearing about much more tragedy.
both the man who shot his mother and the young boy who was tied to the tree point to what might not have been available but was needed— opportunities to be involved with others in groups and healty activities— social groups that help people to ‘vent’ and not feel hopeless.
Rocky Mount/Nash/Edgecombe organizations do much to help provide this type support. Whatever went wrong with that young boy’s family likely couldn’t have changed with ‘parenting’ classes. With discretion, I sure hope that whatever went wrong in the boy’s family circumstance plus the man who shot his mother can be reported so others might learn/adjust, or even help others when seeing warning signs.
We do have a good city—one city and twin counties of good people.