At 8-years-old, Jayce Collum has already inherited a collection of daunting wisdom meant for a lifetime, a reality incompatible with the formative and gentle lessons associated with childhood. Unfortunately, the kid has endured a series of unscrupulous and unjust tragic events, including bucking the odds and surviving a horrendous automobile accident which left him paralyzed and facing an arduous and relentless frequency of visits to the hospital.
As family members in Forrest City, Arkansas insinuate that Jayce is blessed with a resiliency and courageous vigor for life worthy of a hero, certain instances in the timeline of the world defy any polite description and are not worthy of even processing with logic, legalism, or mercy. Last Friday, an individual or group of thieves committed the unconscionable and deplorable act of stealing from the young Collum, reports WREG-TV, a gross indiscretion that prompts and rekindles the investigation of deeming members of society with the accurate and resounding label of subhuman. The term “Grinch” should not be deployed in attempting to describe the small scale carnage prompted by the unbelievable propensity of bad decisions tainting the magic of the holiday season.
In order to foster an enthusiasm for hunting, the outdoors and strengthen the family bond, Jayce’s grandfather, constructed a customized set of hunting gear for the young man, which allows for both the impressionable and the old to share the experience and camaraderie of the wilderness in building a tangible bridge of the generations. All that is gone now as the crooks thoroughly and heartlessly broke into the structure housing the Collum legacy and are at large with no potential leads and a dimming hope of bringing the cretins to justice. The disgusting narrative is stifling, as an 8-year-old youth who will probably never set foot on a little league field, or a basketball court, was robbed of his livelihood in a few brief and sickening moments.
Thankfully, the family and the community are working together so that Collums can enjoy the hunt as the season fast approaches, and as the news of the crime emanates through the firearms community, the Christmas wish of many is the complete and specific manifestation of the “eye for an eye” principle applied to crooks.
While middle America faces an opioid crises fueled by the darkness and greed of the Cartel and other ominous organizations, some criminal and others legitimate in forwarding a disturbing agenda, one has to surmise if the plight of the Collum’s is a direct microcosm of the drug trade festering within the fabric of the rural community? There exists no simple or eloquent solution in battling the staggering duality of poverty and narcotics, but the folks in the cities will surely question the validity and sensibility regarding the prevalence of firearms in the small pockets of population which dot the expanses of the US and provide the best solution for effective self-defense.
Jayce lacks the capability to manipulate his body in a position to fire a rifle at a target, or simple to sit up without assistance, an action that the majority of society takes for granted, which creates an absolutely intolerable aftermath to the misdeeds. However, his spirit and fight for life is captured with these simple and wise words, “I want my stuff back and the people who did it to turn themselves in,” words that we can all agree with, and of course adding to his decree a phrase that describes an incessant and ugly stream of pain that the bad guys should be forced to endure for eternity.
Read the WREG-TV story here.