I couldn't believe what I read in the paper yesterday. It was tucked somewhere in the local news section, but it screamed for attention.
According to the article, a young boy in a wheelchair was purposely set afire by some kids who had been picking on him; I guess they thought he didn't have any feelings. He is alive, but he is now fighting for his very life at an area hospital; he remains in extremely critical condition in that hospital's burn unit.
He will probably be there for some time to come: the lad was burned over 90% of his body.
The boy in question is 11 years old. He has severe cerebral palsy: he will never walk; he's been in a wheelchair all of his life. Kids have been picking on him as long as I can remember; however, I didn't think it would resort to this.
When I read the article, I cried. I cried for the boy, I cried for his family; I even cried for those who did this to him.
If the child survives (which, at this point, looks highly unlikely), he will require years of plastic or reconstructive surgery, all sorts of therapies, or frequent hospital stays; at the very least, he will be heavily scarred over just about every inch on his body. He will no longer look like himself: he will look more like an alien from outer space.
I don't know why people have to be so cruel to those who are "different". Most of the time, these people didn't ask to be born handicapped, or become handicapped later in life. Don't these people have any feelings, or have they forgotten how to love? What were these bad kids thinking when they set this boy on fire? Did they do it just to prove a point, or didn't they have anything better to do?
How must their parents feel about what their sons/daughters did to this little boy? How must the child's family feel, knowing that their son was often the butt of jokes, and that he might die because the kids thought this would be "fun"?
I often think about these things; I also think about the child lying in a burn ward, heavily bandaged, hooked up to every line, tube, or monitor known to man, probably suffering in extreme pain, although doctors have him heavily sedated. To think of such things is enough to make me cry once again.
I can't imagine the child having to go through such torture.
*End of part one*
