newspaper headlines

today i glanced at the newspaper.
since high school, i've avoided the news. i can still remember the day i watched the news on a friday night before heading out to a football game and it was then that i promised myself i'd no longer watch it. i'd rather live in my optimistic bubble where people in the world are kind. the news, i decided, was just too depressing.
then i started dating a photojournalist...news surrounds me.
so today, i glanced at his newspaper.
the headlines screamed: three people die in shooting; scissors used in stabbing; man accused of raping 12-year old girl.
the front page picture: a little boy, dressed in a halloween lizard costume, at his lemonade stand.

it was the most disturbing thing i've seen in a long time. the literature teacher in me couldn't help but see the symbolism on that front page. the child - the epitome of innocence - sat there selling lemonade, completely oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded by evil. he never reads the news. he lives in a world where people are good. the only fear he has is his mother. the only thing he knows about strangers is that his father tells him not to talk to them. he doesn't know why.
he hasn't lost a friend to a completely pointless, evil shooting. he hasn't had a friend raped. he hasn't been robbed or stabbed.
but eventually, he will. he'll watch the news. he'll read the newspaper. and the evil will take over the innocence.