Some news events rise above simply providing information and end up bringing people together in our common humanity.
The discovery of the body of a young boy in South Berwick last week did just that, and as he remained unidentified for five days, people in the surrounding communities sought to make sense of the tragedy the only way we know how: By being together.
Discussions around kitchen tables, online, in convenience stores and town hang-outs culminated in vigils in South Berwick, highlighting the sense of community that everyone needed to help make sense of this event.
Particularly for those with young children, the apparent murder of 6-year-old Camden Pierce Hughes hit too close to home. The computer-enhanced image of the boy, provided by police in an attempt to find his identity, haunted us all from the pages of newspapers and our television screens, the tousled blonde hair, bright blue eyes and expressionless mouth burned into our collective consciousness. He could have been any one of our children, a neighbor or friend’s child.
As the days piled up while state police worked feverishly to identify the boy, we all grew more incredulous, more wounded by the fact that no one was stepping up to claim him.
Camden’s was the type of story that sits heavy in your heart, burns your eyes and turns your stomach. It is these types of events that remind us of the darkest side of humanity, that give us pause to reflect on how anyone could come to the point of killing a child, especially their own.
But the darkest events always provide us with an opportunity to see the best of humanity, too, in the love of those who gathered to remember a boy they had never met, in the dedication of investigators who worked nearly around the clock to bring justice to a little boy who was so far from home.
Though it turns out that the boy was from Irving, Texas, for those five days when he had no name, Camden was indeed “our son, a son of South Berwick,” as resident Darrel Bates said at the vigil earlier this week. Though we now know his roots are in that far away state now, and his mother has been charged in connection with his death, we doubt he’ll be forgotten here ”“ and he certainly won’t be forgotten by those who embraced him as the investigation continued.
Out of this tragedy, perhaps there will arise a new dedication to reaching out to neighbors and friends, offering a helping hand or just a friendly ear, making sure those around us know that they are not alone in their struggles. And maybe another Camden can be saved from a similar fate.
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Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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