This article in USA Today showed up in my newsfeed this morning. I couldn’t help but cry when I read it. It’s about a 2-year-old boy, bloody and alone, who was found wandered the street in Highland Park, Illinois, where a mass shooting killed seven people Monday at a Fourth of July Parade.
Over the course of the day, strangers found him and mobilized the community to find the boy’s family as neighbors shared his photo across social media with pleas to help identify him.
The town rallied to help locate his grandparents and reunite the boy, Aiden, with his grandparents. But soon after, they received heartbreaking news that both of his parents had died in the shooting. Aiden McCarthy was orphaned at two years old.
People in the community organized to raise more than $2 million on GoFundMe as of this morning. “Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan,” the GoFundMe page said.
Back at home with his grandparents on Tuesday, Aiden was still waiting for his mom and dad to come home. When his grandfather picked his grandson up from the police station, the 2-year-old asked him, “Are Mommy and Daddy coming soon?”
“He doesn’t know,” Aiden’s grandfather said. “He doesn’t realize it.”
I have a 2-year-old grandson and I can’t image what this poor little boy has gone through. It truly breaks my heart.
This, That, and the Other 
That is such a traumatic experience for such a little boy, but at least there were people out to help him.
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Yes, it could have been worse for him. But it still breaks my heart.
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This story, above all, is the one that brought tears to my eyes! My anger is softened only by the fact that there were people who took the time and effort to find his grandparents.
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Yes, it’s a truly heartbreaking story, but it’s a byproduct on the unwillingness of Republican lawmakers to take any meaningful action on gun control.
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So, So, so sad.
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Dad dies shielding [toddler] … hear from the people who
tended to the boy until grandparents were found
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😥
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‘No More Running’: Mother [shares] …
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Oh that poor child, its heartbreaking, what a sad story!
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I’m sorry but something has to be done. This can’t continue
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I agree, but in today’s political climate in the U.S., I’m not optimistic.
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Yes, something has to be done. But nothing will. Sadly. Greed rules……..
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I remember seeing his photo on twitter shortly after the shooting and worrying that his parents might have perished.
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It’s so sad.
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Heartbreaking. How can we go on like this? Every fucking week!
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I know! 😠
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The frustration, sadness, and anger we feel must be channeled into ensuring elections of legislators who will agree to ban weapons of war and large magazines, institute universal background checks, and remove gun mfrs’ immunity from lawsuits. Moms Demand Action got 15 Republicans to defy the NRA. They’re marshaling the forces for the next, stronger move.
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Yes, in a previous iteration of America, that would be the solution. Vote the bastards out. But with states imposing voter suppression laws, gerrymandering, and Republicans in red states in charge of elections and tallying the vote, I’m not sure that will work anymore in America in 2022.
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Maybe not 2022, but maybe 2023 or 2024 or 2025. Never give up.
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It’s too late.
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I was invited to a thanksgiving lunch in San Francisco a few years ago – just as Trump was gaining power. The lunch was actually in Berkeley with a bunch of academics and Berkeley, as I’m sure you know, is a rich breeding ground of the left. So the lunch was conducted more like a wake, but without the laughs.
I was chatting to a retiring judge and asked what his plans were for retirement. “Well,” he said, “I had hoped to give something back to my country, but there doesn’t seem to be much point now.”
Now, you have to understand that no Australian would ever express the idea of ‘giving something back to my country’, but don’t judge us poorly for that. We don’t really see our country as an individual entity, I suppose.
Anyway, I said to him, “if that’s how you feel, then surely your country needs you now more than ever.”
But he just shook his head and, like you Fandango, said, “no. It’s too late.”
But listen …. history is littered with these little blips of lunacy, and they tend to right themselves after a while. Have a look at what’s just occurred in England. Nobody has to scream and shout, nobody has to be violent, all it takes is the consistent discussion of things. That’s why the earth isn’t flat anymore. Eventually what is obvious cannot be denied. But it takes time.
Don’t give up. That’s exactly what these fuckers want you to do. That is their only hope.
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Yes, all it takes is the discussion of things. Unfortunately, Trump, his sycophants, supporters, and most Republicans don’t want to have discussions. They just want things to be the way they want them to be, everyone else be damned. So they appoint far-right judges, elect far-right representatives, and pass laws to make sure they get only what they want. I hope this is just a blip, but if it is, it’s a dangerous, far-reaching, and probably long-lasting one. It may pass and things MAY get better in the long run, but at my advanced age, it may be too late for me to see it.
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That’s so sad. Poor little kid.
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I know. 🙁
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😥😥😥
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This is so heartbreaking Fandango. 💔
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Yes it is.
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🥲
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Heartbreaking
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I can’t exactly “like” this post, but thanks for sharing. 😦 😦
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This is quite sad and heartbreaking. No child should ever go through this kind of a situation 😢
But I’m glad to hear that people actually took the time and effort to make this kid’s life a little better by finding his grandparents. I really hope he’s doing okay now
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I hope so, too.
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Poor kiddo. This breaks my heart. Something has to be done with that gun law
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The only saving grace is that he won’t remember it.
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Hopefully he won’t remember.
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That is exactly what I said. His relatives can just remind him of good memories.
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