A piece in the NYTimes reported that a baby girl was abandoned:
The 6-month-old girl was found alone at night in a park in southern China, sleeping in a stroller. Next to her, in a lime-green backpack, was a bottle of infant formula, diapers and a two-page note from her parents.
“She’ll die if she stays with us,” it said, according to Chinese news reports. “We know this is selfish, but we have no way out.”Why did the parents do it? Apparently there were a number of reasons:
- The child was epiletic/ with disability
- The parents could not afford to continue treatment after spending all their savings on her treatment
- They believe the child would be better off with someone else.
- They believed it was the only way for the child to survive.
Obviously, there were people who are sympathetic to to the parents' plight, and people who have condemned them as well.
I'll say that although abandoning a child is undoubtly a henious act taken at face value.
Once you understand where the parents are coming from (assuming they are telling the truth, and not ones who see their daughter's health issues as an impediment for their climbing of the social mobility ladder), we can understand that this is the absolute last resort that they have.
How many of us (with children) can even entertain what it would take for us to abandon our own children, no matter how naughty they are, and to never see them again for the rest of our lives? Even with all my children's naughtiness, this is something I can never imagine myself doing. I suspect most of us too.
Thus, imagine the mental anguish and desperation the parents must have had in order to take this very last step. In their letter accompanying the abandoned child, I can imagine the tears as they wrote this:
(She) like(s) to be cuddled.... give hugs to calm her down....If you can, please talk to her and hold her little hands and feet often....she has already started eating rice porridge.....If possible, please feed her a suitable amount....
We are really thankful to you, the kind people who will be blessed your whole life. We will atone for our sins for the rest of our lives.
Indeed, they will forever be haunted by the regret of their only logical course of action. They can never look at any children the same. they will forever be reminded of their sin, but one they did out of love for their child, the kind of love that says " If you truly love some one, let them go".
For my part, the parents have my sympathies and emphathy, and I pray that God bless the child with kind and loving foster parents, grow up healthily, can hopefully help track down the parents, not for revenge, but only to tell them: "Thank you for your sacrifice so that I can have a chance at a better life"
