Friday 6 March 2009

A Life time of Guilt

Stories revealing scandals in government or celebrity faux pas I will admit do not intrigue me, however stories of bizarre tragedy do, and this particular story I will blog about left me feeling that it is unfair how high the price of a simple mistake or accident can cost someone so dearly; and that the mistake will leave them wounded for the rest of their lives.

I am of course talking about the tragic story of Leon Holder the baby who was crushed by his thirteen stone dad; who tripped over one of the baby's toys. I cannot begin to imagine the intolerable guilt his father, Sam Barwick must be enduring, but I can't help but feel that it could have been avoided. For instance why was the baby playing on the floor? Does it not seem obvious that the baby was at risk from being trampled on? I know this implies negligence which I am not inferring, but I just don't think a baby should play on the floor. I was also looking at the age of the parents the father, Sam is twenty and the mother, Katie is nineteen, and I have been debating ever since whether the parents age has anything to do with the fact the baby was playing on the floor? Would older parents have foreseen the potential risk. Either way the fateful irony of this tragedy greatly saddened me.

Before I draw this blog to a close I would just like to give praise were its due, I think the picture The Daily Mirror used to accompany this story was genius. The image of a toothless smile from a child who is clearly happy and wearing an 'I love Daddy' bib amplified the tone of tragedy and horror the article was clearly aiming to produce. Well done.