Innocence Lost

For a full week, the areas surrounding Jacksonville have been gripped by the ongoing story of a little boy missing in Brunswick, GA — about 45 minutes north of here. Christopher Barrios, Jr. simply vanished a week ago yesterday in the afternoon. He was last seen on the playground that sat, as I understand, between the homes of his father and grandmother as he left one to return to the other. Search parties of police and community members formed and searched — and searched and searched. No trace was found. Hope remained high that Christopher, six years old, would be found safe, and most importantly, alive.

Hope ended yesterday afternoon around 4:00 when Christopher’s body was found in a trash bag about 15 feet off the side of a road three miles from the playground where he disappeared almost exactly a week earlier. At this time, little is understood and even less has been made known to the grieving public. Brunswick police have four people in custody, one of whom is a convicted child molester.It would be so easy to proceed with a condemnation of those people responsible. But I will refrain — for the moment, at least. That time will come soon enough. I could also pour out the many questions asking, “Why?” But no answer could be sufficient. For the time being, I want simply to be quiet for a while and to listen to my heart’s sorrow for a little boy I probably never would have encountered in my life. To be perfectly truthful, in certain unison with thousands of other people in this area, I wish I could still say that I had never encountered little Christopher. That encounter, after all, was precipitated by unthinkable tragedy. For him to be an anonymous little boy in Georgia would mean that he was the same cute and vibrant child that he was eight days ago.

As a father myself, I cannot begin to comprehend the feelings that family is experiencing at this moment. From miles away and completely unknown to them, I share their sadness. Moreover, I am eerily aware of yet another bit of innocence that we all lost yesterday. God help us all.