Kev Leitch, who I admire tremendously, has re-opened his blog to write a letter to Katie McCarron, whose mother is on trial for murdering her.
It is a sweet and loving piece (I had tears in my eyes) that turns thunderous at the end.
The real tragedy is that any of this happened at all. There are no excuses for what was done to you. Whatever the verdict comes back as, the truth is that you were betrayed and snatched away from those who loved you. Those who wronged you – those with no answers – still try to wrong you. They blame vaccines. They blame autism. They blame mental illness. They look everywhere to place blame except where it deserves to be placed. In doing this they seek to cheapen and diminish the enormity of what was done to you. Your family will not let them.
Reading the coverage of McCarron's murder trial has been hard, and I thank Kev for putting the spotlight back:
your Daddy, your Grandma, your Grandpa, your Aunt and your Uncle and lots of your teachers spoke up for you sweetheart. They stood up to be counted and said that you were loved – adored –
I'm an atheist. But you know, I was holding my father's hand as he died, and I had the strongest sense that he didn't disappear but (he was a ski jumper in his youth) sailed off the into the blue, and joined a joyous crowd of his friends who had gone on before.
I suppose my fantasy is a bit like Valhalla (without the warrior prerequisites) or perhaps the Elysian Fields.
One of my father's great joys in life was being a father -- not only to his own four daughters, but other people's children.
So I can imagine that my father is watching over Katie, and listening to her laugh, and that it will all come right sometime.
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