In recent news there have been several stories revealing tragedies of children being involved in "freak accidents" or terribly scary situations which made headlines. As the media reported these situations, America was quick to jump in with judgement & hatred. I found myself puzzled by the reactions of strangers and their need to play the blame game. I started to contemplate why it is that Americans are so quick to ignore the pain of the families that experience these tragedies and so quick to point a finger?

There was story after story ranging from the toddler boy who ended up in the the Gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, to the toddler who got dragged away by an alligator at Walt Disney World. In both situations there was a great deal of fear and heartbreak involved. In both situation death resulted, one was the Gorilla and one was the child. In both situations, I could only imagine that the parents were feeling enough emotions and self-criticism to last them a lifetime. Enough regret, enough wondering of what they could have done differently. Enough sadness and so much shock.

But here we are, America, quick to chime in and decide that accidents don't just happen anymore in America. If a child is hurt or endangered people automatically assume that it's neglect or abuse. We question where the parents were and if the child was being adequately cared for. We speculate about the situation the child was in to begin with and decide if we would have made the same choice and we do this all on public forums where the parents and families will be readily reminded of Americas opinion.

So what does this hatred and judgement mean for us. Well, it boils down to one thing-- Amercians have lost their empathy. They have forgotten that sometimes freak accident JUST happen, they have forgotten that a situation ALWAYS seems easier when you're not the one in it. They have forgotten that sometimes the most obvious decisions don't come easily in parenting. They are forgetting that these parents are human beings and are very much victims of their own circumstances. They are forgetting that sometimes bad things can happen to good people.

Empathy is lost is America. We've forgotten how to sympathize with other people and we have forgotten that our words have an effect on others. If we can all remember that we are all humans and that part of the shared human experience is failure, maybe, just maybe we can begin to see some of these situations in the media through empathy, compassion, and understanding.

I don't doubt that the parents involved in these two tragedies could have possibly made different choices that may or may not have changed the outcome of the events. I also don't doubt that these parents were doing the very best they could and would give anything to change what happened.

Life is unpredictable and freak accidents happen, but all we can do as fellow imperfect humans is handle each situation with empathy and support while we hope for a better income and support those who are hurting.

Imagine what the world could look like if these tragedies were met with a flood of empathy instead of outrage and judgement.