LIFE SAVERS
It isn't just people who save lives--there are the obvious people/occupations like EMTS, fire fighters, police officers, soldiers...and there are nurses, physicians, operating room staff. Teachers save lives, counselors, friends...everyday people who are brave and dare run into fires, run into traffic, dive into icy waters and onto railroad and subway tracks.
But places, organizations, institutions can also save lives...giving people hope to go on one more day, take one more step into the future. Right here in Burlington there is such a place called Hope House--it is a respite home for those undergoing cancer treatments at the nearby hospital. Their doors are open to even spouses, children, loved ones of the patients so they can stay close, not have the expenses of a hotel stay, the dread of an empty, stark room.
So why some idiots (and I'm guessing frat boys) would sneak up to the Ronald McDonald statue that was sitting peacefully on a park bench outside Hope House in the middle of the night? Saw his legs off, decapitate him and leave him there for the horror of children and the disgust of staff volunteers, wives, mothers of cancer patients? Is more than I can fathom.
I know that many of us fear clowns and some folks are even terrified of them with all the drama makeup and big red lips, baggy pants, surprise flower that sprays water, floppy shoes...and many of us even refuse to frequent McDonald's restaurants--a place that joyfully brags that they "serve billions daily" the greasy salty fries, hamburgers that came from god only knows what beef cows, and Coke, a product that is known to clean the gunk off your car battery better than anything...
But to mangle a mascot? The sign of joy and hope and love and light and symbol of the Hope House itself, seems unconsciencable. I hope those vandals are caught and I hope they learn a lesson about who and what not to eff with.
Emily Dickenson once wrote "hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all..."
Hope House perches on that college hill singing a tune without words, never stopping at all. Saving lives. One song at a time.
Yvette Mason,
MORY Writers' Group
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