Monsters DO Exist

Last night when I went to bed, a massive search was underway.  As helicopters flew above, posters were being put up on every available space. Swarms of people joined into the block to block search.  A little boy was missing. This morning when I stepped outdoors to go to work the sky was gray and dingy, but even for more noticeable was the gray aura that surrounded  the area.  People of all races and religions were standing outside of their homes milling about, silent, with disbelief and sadness written across their faces.  The little boy was dead.

I remember when I  was young, I had a fear of monsters hiding in the dark at night. To combat my fear, I would check that all windows and doors in the house were locked, turn on the lights in every room and check under the beds and in the closet for ghouls and monsters, switch off my light and then lie in bed and wait.  "There is a monster under my bed, " I would cry out. 

"Nonsense,"  mama replied, "Monsters don't exist."

How wrong she was!  Monsters do exist, only not in the form that we imagine them to be as children.  Monsters exist in human form.   And human monsters are actually the most terrifying form...because they are real...very, very real.  

He had begged his parents to allow him to walk home like the other children his age, and they agreed to meet him halfway.  This is supposed to be a safe neighborhood, one of the safest in the city.  So, when this little  boy's mama sent him off to day camp in the morning, she fully expected him to return in the afternoon.   Little did she know that when her little boy left camp and got lost, he would stop a monster to ask for directions.  The police found  his  body parts at 2:40 this morning in two different places...some parts in a dumpster a few blocks away and his feet in the monster's refrigerator.  I've actually walked by the home several times.  One would never know the evil that lurked behind its doors.  What kind of monster can do such a thing?  Where does this evil come from? 

Tears come to my eyes as I sit here and imagine the unbearable fear this child must have when he realized that this monster was about to take his childhood away. I haven't been able to shake these feelings all day.   We always say it will never happen here, but monsters can be found in every part of the world.  Please take a moment to light a candle and say a prayer for this little innocent child.   May his soul find peace. 

A little soul scarce fledged for earth
Takes wing with heaven again for goal
Even while we hailed as fresh from birth
A little soul.

Our thoughts ring sad as bells that toll,
Not knowing beyond this blind world's girth
What things are writ in heaven's full scroll.

Our fruitfulness is there but dearth,
And all things held in time's control
Seem there, perchance, ill dreams, not worth
A little soul.