So, I was all set to write an uppity, happy happy joy joy post about my trip to the Dr. Drew show last week, and all the fun that I had, and all the cool shit I got for free just for sitting in the audience on a really stupid talk show. I was all set to write that post, and hit publish, and pat myself on the back for another post up. And then, my sister sent me this link:
And I couldn’t write that post anymore. Frankly, after watching that video, I couldn’t do much of anything for a while, besides try not to burst into tears and hug Dylan until she begged me to stop. If you haven’t seen it yet, this link is to the video currently viraling its way across the world wide webs. It shows a little girl, a toddler, 2 YEARS OLD, being hit by a van that then drives away. And then, AND THEN, being left on the street, bleeding, ignored by no less than 18 people. 18 people who walked right by her, some stopping to look at her bleeding, mangled body, before going on their way. Then, inconceivably, she’s hit by another car, that also drives away without stopping. I have to warn you, the video is VERY GRAPHIC and so heartbreaking it’s hard to put into words. I watched it, then I watched it again, and I just couldn’t write about being happy. Not today.
18 people walked by a little girl, a baby, as she lay injured in the street. Finally, mercifully, a woman drags her off the road and apparently screams for the child’s mother, who then rushes to her. The little girl is taken to a hospital. The little lay in a coma for 4 days. The little girl died today, of injuries that would have been treatable had any, ANY, of the 18 people who walked by, or the driver of the van that ran her over in the first fucking place, had bothered to stop. Or call emergency services on their phone (it happened in China, I don’t know what their 911 is). Or yelled for someone else to do so. 18 people and 2 drivers. I just, can’t. Wrap. My head around this.
And I can’t stop thinking about that little girl. I wonder if she was conscious. She appeared to be moving at first, but stops. I wonder if she screamed, or cried, or whimpered. I wonder if she saw those people walk by her, if she called out to them. I wonder if she called out for her mommy. I wonder if she was in pain. I hope not. A million times over, I hope not. And I wonder about those people, the people who happened upon a bleeding child in the middle of the street, and DID NOTHING. I wonder what their reasons were, if they even matter. I wonder how they are able to sleep at night, or get up in the morning. How they can look in the mirror. If they have kids, I wonder how they are able to kiss them and hug them, after letting that little girl die. I wonder.
Watch the video. As hard as it is, watch the video. Because, and I say this as a parent, but more as a human being, I don’t want to live in a world where not only does this horror occur, but one where people halfway around the world can choose to ignore it simply by not clicking a link. I’ve been agonizing over this, for a couple of reasons: one, I have a baby, and so help me God, if there were ever an instance where someone did not help her when she needed it, I would hunt them down and it would not be pretty. And I just keep thinking of that baby, and her parents, and my heart hurts. For them, for her. For us all.
Watch the video. For us all.
