Have you ever noticed
That in horrifying news stories
Stories of rape, murder, and missing children
We always show the victim's picture
And in the picture, the missing child
Is always smiling
Or the teen stabbed to death
Is seen laughing
Even the rape victim's
Photograph
Is often a photo of her standing proudly
Next to a friend or a family member
A beam on her face
Stretching from ear to ear
Until today
I had never wondered
Why that is
Why represent such a horrible situation
With such a happy photograph?
I think the reason
The families' of victims
Submit smiling photos
To the news sites and shows
Is because they want the world
To remember their child
As they were
Before the tragedy
The parents of the kidnapped 4 year old
Want the world
To remember their daughter as she was
With a cheeky smile
And with tiny little fingers,
always covered in finger paint and sand
They want the world to seek for her
As she was
Innocent
Always laughing
Sweet as sugar
They give the news photos of her smiling
In hopes
That she will return to them
Smiling, innocent, and young
The uncle of the boy stabbed to death
Submits a photo of his nephew
Laughing at prom
To the New's site
Because he wants the world to remember
His nephew as he was:
Happy, loud, and
More alive than most people will ever be
The uncle does not want the world
To remember his nephew
As the boy who was stabbed 32 times
By a classmate
He wants the world to remember him
As the boy who was so much bigger than life
He wants the world to remember him as
The type of boy who danced so energetically
That the cops got called at parties
All the kids who go missing?
All the youth who die young
from a stabbing or a shooting?
All the young women who
lose themselves to rape?
Their photos?
In their photos
They're smiling
They're smiling, or laughing,
or looking of into the distance contentedly
Because that's how their families
Want you to remember them
Remember them before the tragedy
Remember them as they were
The murder victims?
They aren't coming back
But please don't remember them
For how they died
Remember them as they were
Alive, loud, rambunctious
The rape victims? The missing children?
Seek for them
Find them
Love them
Help them get back
Not to how they were
You don't become a person again
Some parts of themselves will stay lost forever
But help them find their smile again
They won't ever be the laughing
Carefree person
That they were in their News' story photo
But they will be happy again
They will one day laugh, smile, and be content
Once more
So please, find them
Seek for them
Love them.
There is still a hope to be found
and a hope to be remembered well
In this tragic world.
Help find that hope
Help remember the lost