Monday, January 14, 2008

What?
There was a young man who was beaten and left for dead in Britain... did you hear about it? The man's name was Brent Martin and he was intellectually disabled. Three boys were hanging out one day... and made a bet - how many punches would it take to knock this kid out? And they began... they chased him all over town. Each time they knocked him down he would get back up, apologize to his attackers and try to shake their hands. But, they continued to beat him and then they posed for pictures and left him to die. Did you read about this? Yeah, neither did I. I Googled his name... I found three articles... now, I know that Brent Martin is a common name, but this made me so sad. There was no information on this boy.
It took place last August. AUGUST. It's January and I'm just now hearing about it... but not through the media. From the blogging community.
Why was there no outcry? Why didn't this story flood the media? Why?
Can I tell you how hard I cried? Can I tell you how I fear for my son? This can't go unnoticed. I read this blog post and a post on Tammy's site. They are wearing black arm bands this week in remembrance of Brent. And hopefully people will ask about the band. Then his story will be told. And maybe... just maybe, awareness will come from it. And perhaps, from that awareness will come caring and compassion. And hopefully, that compassion will override misunderstanding and intolerance.
I know that I just put all of my fabric away, but I think I'll be digging it back out. I know there's some black in there somewhere...

15 comments:

Heather said...

This breaks my heart, thanks for posting about it.

flip flop mama said...

There are some sick people out there...

Leanne said...

I blogged about this too after seeing Tammy's site. It just makes me so sad. There's GOT to be a way to change this kinda stuff.

Tammy and Parker said...

Thank you so much!

*smooch*

... said...

i hadn't heard this story either. so sad. and i'm wondering why the media wouldn't pick up on this story. we hear about bri*ney not wearing underwear or lin*sey taking a swig from a champagne bottle - why not something we would actually care about. thanks for sharing.

Randi said...

There sure are parts of the world that are getting to be ugly.
So Sad.

Tonya said...

That literally makes me sick to my stomache. I can't believe that someone could disregard human life like that. It's disgusting and so very sad. At least we know that Brent is with his Heavenly Father. I can't believe we didn't hear anything about this. Blech the media irks me.

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Oh Melissa, how heart wrenching! If it's any consolation, it was on the news up here this summer. I think I have some black fabric in my stores as well. ~hugs~

Yvonne said...

That is so incredibly sick and sad. I don't remember hearing anything about it. What is wrong with this world?

Thanks so much for letting us know.

Ally said...

This makes me cry. There are some things about this world that just make me so sad.

Jean Knee said...

It is unbelievable that we never heard of this but every time Brittney dings her car it's front page news

Nancy Face said...

I'm grateful that you let us know who Brent Martin was. It was terribly heartbreaking to learn what was done to him. It is comforting to know that he is with Heavenly Father and Jesus, and will never suffer again.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

That's disgusting.

It's also one of the reasons we elected to not put my 6 year old speech-impaired son in school. We were afraid that he'd be taunted or hurt by other kids and wouldn't be able to articulate what happened.

Busy Bee Lauren said...

This made me sick to my stomach...so sad!

wynne said...

No, no, no, no.

Sometimes I get scared about this sort of thing: does the media miss it because it's too common? Is there just too much pain in this world that huge chunks like this just get missed?

Heaven help us all.