(Unexcusable) Sign of the Times

Yesterday's disturbing news left me with a heavy heart as I went to bed last night. A 4mos old baby boy was found dead inside the car at the BART station yesterday afternoon. The dad forgot to drop off the baby at day care and left the boy to die inside the car (which supposedly reached a scorching 100 degrees).

Not to say that the accident is excusable -- but I truly believe that it is the sign of the times. Now, more than ever, people are working harder and holding on to their jobs. Working hard equals stress, and stress equals mental imbalance. Maybe the dad was rushing to catch the train to get to work. Maybe the dad had a deadline that he needed to catch. Maybe ... Maybe ....

Let this be a lesson to all of us to take a step back and take note of what's really important. We are putting way too much on our plate and if we can just take stock of what really matters to us - awful things like this can be avoided.

It's still hard to fathom - how could a parent forget about their sleeping child in the backseat of the car? But instead of condemning the parent(s), I feel for them. I feel for the Dad who thought he was doing his best to provide for his family by rushing to work. I feel for the Mom who had to discover her baby lifeless inside the car after a whole day of being left inside. It happens to the best of us. It's unfortunate. It's very, very unfortunate.

** I saw this on Oprah last year and it helped put things into perspective for me. I've heard of these incidents happening all the time, but hearing a parent's anguish and pain helped me understand that the stress of daily life can easily get to any one of us.