This week has been such a busy one for me. I’ve crammed so much in. Yet it all stopped silently still when I learned late Wednesday evening of the horrendous and barbaric murder in Woolwich. A British soldier hacked to death on the streets of London by two alleged defiant Islamist Extremists who courted publicity in the aftermath, with blood on their hands and no fear of opprobrium.
Like everyone else I was so sad to hear of a family’s loss. The hurt they must feel in losing their own and in such brutal unexpected circumstances is too hard to imagine. The next morning with the news still weighing heavily in my thoughts we quietly drank our tea and milk in bed. I picked up my phone and scrolled onto Facebook where I saw one of the many inspirational quotes that people seem to be sharing and liking which then appear on my newsfeed.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Reading this stopped me in my tracks and dare I say made me feel a little better about how depraved society has become with a constant ticker tape of depressingly awful news being relayed to us, Ohio hostages, Oklahoma tornado’s, middle east bombings, attempted plane hijackings…it goes on and on…. and I genuinely fear what world I have brought my daughters into. The helpers in the Woolwich story, the women who stayed with the soldier in his final moments and remonstrated with the murderers were there, through instinct and compassion in the face of such darkness. I can not help but feel enthused by this.
I looked this quote up to see who it was attributed to and I believe it to be The late Fred Rogers an American Presbyterian and presenter of a children’s programme ‘Mister Rogers Neighborhood’ who died in 2002.
His quote apparently went viral on social media in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings and comes from his book published only a year before his death ‘Mr Rogers Parenting Book’ which encourages children to cope with tragedy by reassuring them that no matter the disaster there are always good people responding selflessly. That in itself is worth sharing and remembering. Where there is bad there is good; just look for the helpers.
Mrs S Musings 