A 9-year-old boy became one of the quiet heroes of America this week in the saddest way possible. He walked into his elementary school and told teachers that his mom and sister were dead. And it only gets worse from there.
Police say they went to the boy's home and found the bodies of his mom and older sister (listed as 10 years old by some media outlets, 11 years old by others), his father alive but covered in blood, and his 4-year-old brother sitting amidst the chaos. Dad's now being investigated to determine whether he played a role in the tragedy. Guess what that means for the 9-year-old?
He's the adult in this situation ... more or less. He had the wherewithal to keep it together until he made it to school, his safe haven, and actually talked to a responsible adult. What he did was smart and pretty darn incredible. Most adults couldn't have kept calm enough to do that. And he's 9. NINE!
Now he's a 9-year-old without a mom. And with police saying there was no sign of a break-in or some intruder, things are looking pretty bad on the dad front too. That makes him, what. The "man" of the family? In what world does that make sense?
I know "they" always say kids will surprise you, but I can't help sitting here today with tears in my eyes for this little boy. He shouldn't have had to surprise people with his strength. He should be just a little boy going about his day doing little boy things. Playing LEGOs and eating candy. He shouldn't be the one who had to figure out how to escape a home of horrors and how to find a responsible adult to help his family.
He's a 9-year-old hero. But I wish he could just be a 9-year-old boy.
What would you like to do for this young man today?
Image via OliBac/Flickr
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Comments 302
Its very sad that any child has to go through this. I was 6 when I had to do it. The memories will haunt him for a life time! As to the comment that this child is not heroic! You have no idea what your talking about! Shock makes you not think, this child used his brain ! He knew something had to be done! I hope he gets all the help in the world with this!
I read the comments and realize this is why I hate women, especially other mothers. Even here you have to have your little cliques and your snarky attacks on other commenters. I hate this site too and I will be deleting it from my FB news feed. Thank you all for making this such an unenjoyable place to get information from. I can just hope your poor children don't turn out like you.
I'm going to take the side of the boy...all you bickering about written word takes away from the story...are you so selfish and desire to be right so badly that you would fight total strangers when this is a true tragedy? Being wrong/right doesn't belong here....you sound like school yard bullies going at it....geez...grow up and remember there are people dead here and 2 little boys who survived something horriffic...in the grand scheme of things, DO YOU REALLY NEED TO BE RIGHT?!?!? Why can't you just make a comment on the real tragedy and be done with it, why must you fight like over dramatic teenagers?? So what if she sounds bitchy, graze over her comment, THINK what you are going to think and move on instead of making a big deal of NOTHING....you all disgust me....at least MY teenagers know when TO SHUT THE HELL UP!!! Pick your damn battles people...
I also looked up the story. Now I don't want to start an argument but I did not read anything about the man dying, I read two different articles. But that is not the point, the point is my heart goes out to this poor 9-year-old and his little brother.
give him a hug
Tam- valid points
I have to agree with Tam. The boy was reacting out of shock and not because he was aware that he was now the adult of the family and the one in charge. If he had been thinking clearly he would have called 911 so apparently his thought process was more on automatic than on logical. He went to school and he let someone know what had happened. My heart goes out to him and to his younger sibling, what a terrible tragedy. I pray for him....he has a lot that he will have to deal with emotionally.
I have 2 agree w/ Tam not much info 2 go on really. Ppl just write what they hear and/or see w/o all of the facts. Sad 4 all involved tho. this is just my opinion on the article of course, I am just talking & thinking outside the box.