My Sunday Dallas Morning News column on Lindsay Paige Johnson, the four-year-old girl who saw her mother and brother murdered, and who had her throat cut -- but survived, and walked out of the forest carrying her baby sister to safety. Excerpt:
Witness the power of love. It was love, surely, that gave that child the courage and presence of mind to face down unimaginable terror. All the darkness in the hearts of the diabolical killers, and the darkness of a thousand million evil nights like that one, cannot overcome the light that young child kindled in her heart, hiding under the bush near the body of her dead mother and brother.Long after the despicable deeds of the killers are forgotten, people will tell stories about what she did. How many of us face long odds and struggle with hardship, sickness and despair? Who hasn't been tempted to surrender to the thought that the hate and pain and sorrow of this life are too great to endure?
Let them think of Lindsay, who refused despair. For the rest of her life, the scar on her neck will be a luminous sign to the world: Love conquers all.
When Lindsay Paige Johnson, age 4, staggered bloody out of the darkness and into the light, she carried her baby sister. Baby Robbyn's life is Lindsay's gift to her.
But she also carried hope. This is her gift to us.
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Very moving Rod. Thank you. It's hard to imagine such courage and selflessness from a tiny little girl, isn't it?
Thanks for posting this story Rod, all the gay marriage discussion had got me starting to wonder why I started to read this blog in the first place. I'd like to thank you for writing this blog and your book.
Chris
We must all pray very hard for this little child, that the strength and courage she found to rescue her sister and herself was not exhausted. She is going to need great fortitude for the rest of her life in order to live with the demons that will haunt her from here on out because of the actions of selfish, sinful adults.
I agree, her trials have not even yet begun. At age 14, 24, 34 if this precious girl has her head on straight and has not been driven mad from such incomprehensible evil...4 year olds do not think and examine and struggle with things in the same way that teenagers and adults do. Statistically most people do not recover very well from things like this. Hopefully at such a young age maybe she will not even remember, but just know that this is the bond between herself and her sister, and this is how God saved them.
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