Two young lives lost too soon

We cover stories every day that just break your heart.

But I'd be lying if I told you that the ones that affect me the most are those involving young people.

There is something inherently unnatural about a young person dying, about a parent having to bury a child. It's supposed to be the other way around.

We have now covered two instances of young people being taken all too soon in just the last few days.

Last Friday it was Zion Abdullah, a 16-year-old who was gunned down as he was walking to school at Chester High.

He was described as a "good kid" and a football player.

Yesterday another teen athlete was snatched away from us.

The Academy Park community was shaken by word that a popular football player had been killed in a crash on I-95 Sunday night. Two other students remain in critical condition. Jaion Smith was a junior at Academy Park.

Last night hundreds turned out for a vigil to honor Smith's memory.

We know that very often in these instances, our coverage can be seen as intrusive, adding to the misery that friends and loved ones are already experiencing.

That is never our intent.

We join in trying to honor the memory of these two young men, while trying to report the news.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I lost. A daughter to cancer 20 years ago. She was 38 but still my daughter. To lose a child of any age is the worse loss one will ever experience. May God bless those two young men.