Two Lives

Two stories affected me today:

Anna Nicole Smith's death and the story of a two-year-old left out in the cold to die.

People can say what they want about Anna Nicole, and most of it won't be very flattering. But even while watching her nauseating reality TV show or seeing her tanned, worn face while she held her newborn baby, I felt there was something undeniably human about her. About this Southern girl who was neither well-prepared enough nor smart enough to handle fame or money. At work today, there was a palpable tittering in the office as the CNN.com news alert went out to some people's e-mail inboxes, followed by hushed, incredulous, "Really?"s or "Man, that's fucked up"s. I didn't know how to respond, other than by saying, "She had a rough go of it, especially at the end." And I think everyone can agree on that.

There's no real comparison with two-year-old Nyia Page, other than a similar feeling that settled in my stomach after reading this toddler woke up from an unconscious haze after a blow to the head and walked around, on her tiny feet, before freezing to death. I've never been particularly fond of the idea of having children or other people's children in general, but the thought of her innocence right up until her end is nothing less than haunting. I am happy police caught the person who would do this to a child: her own father, no less.

Death is inevitable, and as I move further and further away from my religious upbringing, death becomes scarier and scarier. But there is a difference between the inevitable and a tragedy, and I hope the families of these two people find peace. I will remember to pray for them tonight.