18 December 1968… 44 Years ago, tomorrow…
It was 1968, I was in Foster Care in Illinois.
A classmate, also in foster care was shot in the neck that year. He is the first person I can recall who was shot, except President Kennedy.
It was horrifying for me. I knew a kid who had been shot. I always thought that could have been me and my four siblings. It was easy in my mind to plug my father into the gunman’s place. It could have been us at the Courthouse that day.
The boy who was in my class came back in January. We all saw the scar left on his neck. We all knew his parents and siblings were dead and the social workers were also dead. I remember staring at the kid.
He must have changed families after that because I didn’t see him anymore.
Spree Killing is not a new thing at all. Christmas is a very dangerous time.
If you want to read the fantastic story of a very angry man and the events that led up to his suicide go to
And Here at http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19681219&id=8BwsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w50FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1694,3796404
You will see that a number of people saw this coming and did not stop it.
Yes, Christmas is a very hard time. Dangerous. Evil.
Thanks for reading. Writerly Wednesday will appear on schedule so come back soon.