There is a great magazine out there called The Sun.

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/

Usually The Sun will have a variety of articles and stories that deal with real life. There is a good section called Reader's Write, where people will write in about a specified topic and their own life. More often than not, people don't pull any punches.

I bring it up because of the time of the season. We are supposedly in the time where giving is more important than receiving.

Why do I bring this up? Because the night before last, I had the experience to deal with a mother who's three month old baby died while in the bed with her and two other children. Right now, it is unclear how this baby died. It could have been SIDS, suffocation because the baby was on her stomach or the mother or one of the other children rolled over and suffocated the baby.

The place where this family lived was atrocious. No lights in one room, clutter every where, falling apart furniture, debris and garbage on the floors. Some people might not even let a dog live in such of an environment.

The remaining children in the apartment, six and three years old, knew no better. It was normal to them. And while in the apartment, the mother was told the medical people were still working on her baby at the local ER, while we knew the baby had died.

I was present in the ER room when the mother and father were brought in and first told their three month old baby girl had died. To watch a mother go through that is one of the most terrible things to watch, especially when at the time, my own four girls were home alive in a clean and safe environment.

I stood there watching this mother, thinking, yes, you are complicit in your baby's death, even though you meant no harm. Hospital staff, nurses and many others, tell parents, do not sleep with your children or place babies on their stomachs.

And not to seem arrogant or better than thou, but while watching this woman, it struck me, that the poor and ignorant and less fortunate than us, love their children as much as we do and that life is so god damned hard and unfair, especially to children.

My aim is not to depress or make people feel bad, but to hope that compassion, care and good will is important, no matter how hard we feel some people are not worthy of it.

Yes, this mother laid down with her baby, but what parent has not fell asleep with his or her baby in his or her arms? And to have heard her say how she would give her own life to have that baby alive again or how all she wanted to do was breathe air into the intubation tube to make her baby breath again, showed how much she loved her baby no matter how judgmental others more fortunate could be while watching this tragedy unfold.

I hope in this time of giving, we all can give like humans and that all are safe out there and do count their blessings and love their children.

Best wishes to everyone,

Eric