Too Sad
Freight train kills Lake Forest boy, 11
An 11-year-old Lake Forest boy was killed Saturday afternoon when he was hit by a train as he and a friend tried to cross the tracks on their way to a McDonald's, police said.

Steven Malin was struck by a northbound Canadian Pacific freight train around 1:30 p.m. in the western section of the affluent North Shore suburb, near Telegraph and Everett Roads.

I had to line up altar servers for a supper hour memorial service tomorrow evening. This was not an easy task, considering how over-booked the local kids are. But just about each child I talked to paused and whispered into the phone, “Is it for......that boy?” No. It was for a middle-aged man. So the thought of serving was manageable for them. If not doable on account of their tutoring, lessons, sports, etc. Tomorrow night’s deceased is close enough to Rick’s age. I shall refrain from too much chatter about it.

Having boys close to this age (9 and 13), I shudder every time I think of this accident. This is another one of those times that reality encroaches on our safe little world. Children in the city get hit by trains. Children out in the ‘sticks’ get hit by trains. But not children in near-to-perfect Lake Forest. (Is it little wonder that the hometown of the Walgreen family, of the “Welcome to Perfect” series of TV ads, is Lake Forest?) Children in “Perfect” can’t die. Children in “Perfect” can’t get hit by trains. It can’t happen.......but it does anyway.

In our “Perfect” niche, a memento mori always catches us off balance. For the kids, it is almost impossible to ponder.