[...Oh do I feel like the mother of the world, with two children fighting...]

I saw through facebook today that a person my age who I saw around my University was recently killed. He was in India wringing out wet towels when he came into contact with a live electrical wire. The current went through his right arm and out his right leg. Both his arms were amputated and much of his skin was burnt and cells only continued to die. A necklace he always wore most likely carried the current to his chest. He was apparently able to hug his parents with his left leg. Eventually he fell into cardiac arrest and died.

This past week I took a First Aid course. The Red Cross building was next to a graveyard, and the topic of death was very present, yet factual. But now, my motherly instincts in addition to this minor training have made me feel responsible for every scrape, bruise and heart attack that I may come into contact with. What could I have done for Lyell? Had I been there, could I have done anything to keep him alive? To save his arms? His kidneys? His heart? This minor training has made me feel responsible, and yet all I learned was how to recognize that something was wrong and to call 911. Or, if they are already dead... do CPR. Every time I've called for an ambulance they have taken close to 40 minutes to arrive. Lyell had to be driven because there were no ambulances, and was rejected by two hospitals before being taken in some six and a half hours after the electrocution.

After reading of the death of Lyell, I stood in my room thinking, and heard the screams of a child being dragged up the street by his mother. His twin brother followed 10 yards behind, scared and clearly in pain because of his brother's screaming. No human being should ever be heard making a noise like that. How do I save him?

I could never say that life was fragile. Life is very strong. But this world is a very powerful place. The actions of a mother, how profound an affect it has on a living being under her care. An electrical charge that can destroy a body in less than a second, before returning to the earth where it immediately dissolves. How do we embrace these victims? How do we ground the current before it takes a life?

In lieu of flower, Lyell's parents request a random act of kindness towards a complete stranger, as he would have liked. But personally, I hope that my kindness will no longer be random, but constant. I hope that all my actions are performed out of good will. I hope that I will never give my children need to scream like that child.