Sometimes working in televsion news can really get emotional. Take today for example. Last night right around 8PM we sent our reporter to scanner traffic involving shots fired and people down in Harrisburg. Today we found out that a father had stabbed his 13 year old son and then himself. What made it even worse was that the father had attempted to get medical help the week before and checked himself into a psychiatric unit only to be released. The bodies were found early this morning by the mother of the child.
I spent all day looking for the boys picture and finally found it on myspace. Seeing his face made the whole incident all the more real. He loved his dog Bandit, loved to run track and play the trumpet. He never even had a chance. I then found his mother on facebook and in order to confirm the boy was indeed the one who I had found..wrote her a message on facebook to see if she would respond.
I have not heard back from her and quite honestly I don't expect to. How hard to lose your entire family and then come home to a facebook message from some random reporter who could never know the extent of your pain. In news we provide a service--informing viewers of what is going on and tomorrow we will shift our focus onto the little boy. Who was Jared Stout? What was he like as a kid, a friend and a young dreamer? They say everyone has a time to go but, sometimes life seems so unjust and fair. As journalists we are at the forefront--telling the stories, seeing the lives devastated and the people that are affected.
It's a job I love daily for it's excitement yet, it's also a job that can weigh heavily on ones heart. Many journalists get out of the business, or turn to drinking to numb what we have to hear.
Jared, though I did not know you, I feel as though I did. The only thing we can do is attempt to bring your short life into the living rooms of people who didn't know you--and tell your story.
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