Watched Abuse in Hospital

I am haunted by an image, sadly it has been 7 years since I witnessed the incident I am about to relay to you, gentle reader. Seven long years since I was in hospital very ill with cellulose’s, laying on a gurney in the emergency departments’ hallway, as it was crowded to over capacity that evening, and beds were in short supply! 

I lay there in the alcove of a doorway leading to another part of the hospital,  hooked up to an intravenous drip, hours and hours I watched the ill, being lead by a nurse to an available examining room,  to await the attending to physician.  Some had family, some were alone, and there where also mothers with babes in arms, waiting for hours to be examined and treated accordingly.

Time drags on when your not feeling well and must wait, and I noticed as I lay there being pumped full of antibiotics,  a young mother and her infant child in the examination room, just across the hall from me.  She was maybe 25 years old at the most, and her baby was approximately 4 to 5 months old.  It was getting late maybe 10:30pm by now and the baby was starting to fuss a little, so the mother put him down on the bed and gave him a pacifier, and covered him with a blanket.  I lay watching from my alcove, she could not see me from the angle of the room, and if she could have,  she would not have done what I watched her do! 

The baby was doing well, considering that over an hour had passed by now; it was the mother who was becoming frustrated and angry at the situation.  The baby did not want to lie down anymore, so he spit his pacifier out and started kicking his feet, kicking the blanket off;  that’s when the mother became angry.  I watched stunned as she picked up the baby roughly and stuck the pacifier back in his mouth, she then wrapped the blanket around him so he could not move his arms and she held him very hard against her chest!  She then placed her hand at the back of his head and shoved his face into her chest, holding him there, she began moving side to side as if rocking him,  only very hard.  All this time, she was on guard to make sure no one was watching.  I saw the look on her face as she gritted here teeth, anger in her eyes and in the rocking motion she made.

To this day I cannot get it out of my head,  I then watched her put the baby back down on the bed and try to put the pacifier back in his mouth and cover him with his blanket.  This worked for only a minute or two and the restless baby again kicked off the blankets and began to cry.  This time the mother was very rough when picking him up and she did the same thing again holding his face hard against her chest almost as if to stop his breathing!  My heart was racing as I saw the anger on her face and she knew what she was doing as she looked to make sure no one was watching her.

She put the baby back down on the bed hard and shoved the pacifier in his mouth and that’s when the doctor came in!  Like Jekyll and Hyde she changed!  Her face relaxed instantly and she smiled as the doctor asked her about the baby.  She looked down at her baby as the doctor spoke about how beautiful he was, and asked about what her concerns were.  She smiled and nodded as he spoke and she seemed like the perfect, adoring, nurturing mother figure we all want to believe in.  I was stunned.

I lay there in my sickened state, weak and feeling even worse for that poor child.  He was going home with her, and I was a witness to her cruelty, her frustration and anger,  which she took out on her baby.

Or was she the nanny, the babysitter?  whoever she was, she should not be left in stressful situations with a baby to care for!  I cannot condone or make excuses for such behaviour,  if you are frustrated you do not take it out on a child or an innocent, defenseless,  baby! 

As the doctor did his examination on the baby and the mother looked on I wanted to yell across the hall,”I saw what you were doing!”  “I know what you did!”  I imagined her staring at me startled, blushing, mouth open ready to deny it all!  but…. I did not.

I did nothing!  I could not muster up the strength to call her on it,  to ask the doctor to “come over here for a moment”.  I am ashamed of myself for staying silent for letting my illness get the better of me.

I have nightmares about this, and I cannot forgive myself.   I pray that this was just an isolated incident;  that,  that womans’  behaviour was totally out of character and that the baby is now a happy, healthy little boy with a loving family.

I can dream can ‘t I?

Shot In The Head! Left for Dead.

Got your attention, of course any story with such a violent headline draws attention.  Our society gets very excited and curious when it comes to reading about or watching movies about violent,sadistic,murderous crimes.  We have been become de-sensitized to such an extent that we actually enjoy or become overly intrigued,  when we read about the victims of violent crimes, serial murders,ritual killings,dismemberment.  You will disagree with that last statement but you will still want to know what happened, why,who,where,how and any pictures?  

Another killing on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada,  another slap in the face to all those who deem it safe enough to walk to the corner store at night for a jug of milk.

A storekeeper shot by a stray bullet, died because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This is the second time in a week, that an innocent bystander has been killed, shot with a handgun by thugs who do not value any human life except maybe their own and that could even be disputed.

The Mayor of Toronto, David Miller, is now hard at work doing damage control, and calling for a national ban on handguns.  He was a guest on numerous Toronto talk radio shows trying to convince Torontonians to get out there and walk in your neighbourhood, support local business, and do not avoid certain areas because of a recent shooting.  In other words,  don’t let the thugs push you around, show them you are not afraid.

 Those are brave words but if you have a family and children, you are not going to risk them being shot by accident,  for the sake of a loaf of bread at the corner store are you?  

The Federal Governments’ Stockwell Day says, we must create stiffer penalties, meaning,  more jail time for those who use handguns during the commission of a crime.  What will more jail time teach anyone who is morally bankrupt?  nothing beneficial to society that is certain.   Longer jail sentences are not a deterrent to those who do not care for anyone or anything and who have nothing to lose.

  If you treat people like wild animals and lock them up in cages,  they will turn on you whenever they get the opportunity, unless you keep them inside until the day they die!  We would have to execute a lot of young people to acheive a safer society,  and I do not believe children are born bad and become killers later in adolescence.  What can be done? Is our society doomed to live in fear of their own children?  

Is it really getting that bad?

Well,  I am hoping it is not that bad but,  we must do something to put a stop to the gunplay in our streets.  It all starts with the children, they are growing up to become what we in society fear most, killers, moral degenerates and juvenile delinquents.  Why?  

I believe it is because we, (society in general) do not raise our children any more.  We,  due to government and economic change have made it impossible to survive on one income!  We have been bombarded with materialism and a culture of buying, consuming for items we truly do not need!  We put ourselves in debt, we become enslaved to a bank who holds our life in their hands.  Miss a mortgage payment and look out! We are so busy trying to acheive and maintain a lifestyle we have been brainwashed into believing will bring us happiness and the perfect family life;  while we forget the most important thing we can give our children;  our time, our company, our moral values, our stories of life and experiences, and a belief in spirituality.  Not religion per say,  but a spirituality in knowing we are not in control, we are just a speck in time as compared to this great universe, and we must respect the gift of life, of earth, of all the living creatures we share this planet with. 

We have forgotten where we come from and why we are here; and it is not to make a six figure salary and retire at 55.  It is not what all those commercials try to drill into your psyche, it has nothing to do with the stock market or the latest fashions or the hottest car. 

 All those “things” are not going to make you a better person, they are just window dressings for an empty soul,  we try to fill it with all the material wealth they can sell us and we will continue to buy it.   Our children learn by what example and we have taught them well,  maybe too well.  They have bought the dream hook,line and sinker!  Want,want,want! 

Get rich or die try’in,  this should tell you exactly where there heads are at!  We, society has taught them, if you want respect just get rich!  money buys everything and everyone!  Look at the reality shows,  people will stop at nothing for the All Mighty and I’m not talking about God either.  

 Our children are a reflection of us, of our society, and we, (as we can read by the daily headlines) are in big trouble!  Is anybody listening?