The Chick emailed me yesterday - with her thoughts about motherhood and the need to support the women we know who are mothers. Not just give them a once a year pat on the head and a high five - but, real, day to day listening, approval, help, respite, real support. And, once again - she really hit gold with her observations.
The mother in SF who dropped her children to their deaths in the bay has been arrested and her family is coming in droves to "make it all about them" and grab their fifteen minutes of fame from this tragedy.
The NY Times reports that about 40 of her relatives gathered at the pier to await news of the recovery of the bodies and make media contacts (okay that last bit is my editoralizing). Think about it -- AT LEAST 40 relatives in the Bay area she should have been able to count on for help. Those of you not from the big urban areas on the coasts, it is pretty common for people to not have large extended families when you live in such huge areas.
What I find most astounding is that one relation said that they were worried about her -- another chimed in that she had told them about the voices in her head telling her to "feed" her children to the sharks. They knew she was unstable, homeless, desperate, in need of help -- and between 40 of them, they couldn't offer a place for a child? They couldn't have her involuntarily committed because of the statement that she was going to harm her children? They couldn't have stopped their own lives for 20 minutes to offer a hand to someone who was, as they said it, reaching out for help?
I think The Chick observed several weeks ago that we have become a society too dependent upon our governments to bail us out. I think this is exactly what happened her -- her family thought that someone else would help her -- that she was entitled to more than she could earn or repay. But, they themselves weren't willing to lend a hand themselves.
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