14

A 14-year old Palestinian girl was killed Saturday morning near Gaza. Israeli military were trying to capture a Hamas leader. The girl was struck by shrapnel, according to reports, which killed her.

Of course, I cannot find her name or anything about her. But I've been thinking about her all day. (And her mother, who was injured but not killed). Also, I imagine she must have been very scared. The whole family must have been.

Andy commented on how the news seemed filled today with stories about the death of innocents:

Sean Bell
2 men in Alexandria
2 women in Chicago (one of whom was only 18)

And just now, as I was searching for links, I came across another: a 17 year-old girl in Iraq who was killed by her father for allegedly being in love with a British soldier (though it seems the relationship was just a friendship). It was considered an "honor killing" - and the details are quite brutal. According to the article I found, 47 honor killings took place last year, and generally, authorities do nothing about them because it's a Muslim society and therefore the killing of women for religious reasons is accepted.

There are a lot of myths about being a parent out there. Particularly about being a mother. One thing I have found to be quite true, however, is that you would do anything to save your child. Some kind of maternal, biological, inherent instinct kicks in and all you can think about (eat, breathe, sleep, live) is keeping your child safe. My life for hers. That's how it works. Without even a second of hesitation, I would easily make that trade.

With so many young people among this morning's statistics, the mother in me mourns for their mothers. I don't mean to suggest that in most - if not all - of these cases, the father is not grieving as well. But there is something to the whole your-body-from-my-body thing that registers and reverberates on a deep and primal level. Maybe all parents feel that way; maybe not.

It was a sad day though; too much death and too many much too young.