It was upon this story, (and this beautiful
poem), that the
book, written by
Russell Banks
and the subsequent film
The Sweet Hereafter, directed by
Atom Egoyan were based.
What a haunting parable of our times.
In America we put our children first. And certainly this is an example of how we do that.
Many people, and not just Republicans, want us to get out of the government business because we do not want to pay for what we want. We want children educated, we want them treated medically and we want the mentally ill and disabled taken care of (by others, preferably).
We say we want all of these things, but we pay teachers, nurses and daycare people dirt.
In every business but human services we say: You get what you pay for.
But not with services for kids. I guess that's supposed to be charity. This fable, more than any other, haunts me. Because I see the mountain swallow up a few children every day.