I don't know if many of you ever read the article "Jimmy's World", in the Washington Post on September 28, 1980. It won a Pulitzer Prize, that was later returned when the truth of the article came to light. Click here for the article.
Maybe it’s because I write fiction myself that the first
half of the article actually sounded like the beginning of a story, not of an
article in a well respected newspaper. The details were too flowery for me to
not question the legitimacy of it. I’m not saying journalist don’t have a way
with words, but there tends to be a more clinical feel to every article I’ve
ever read.
Whereas, a lot of people wouldn’t believe it, because the
thought of a child being shot up by an adult, and none of the adults doing
anything about it, seems too horrible and farfetched, that isn’t what rings
false for me. Granted, that could be, because I’ve seen the track marks first
hand on a child who was much younger than eight (the daughter of a neighbor
who, thanks to police intervention no longer has access to the poor child). This
world is a horrible and terrifying place a lot of the time.
Which does bring me to another thing I found questionable,
and had I not already suspected the article of being a mostly well done work of
fiction, would have made me (especially if I was an editor) wonder about the
authenticity of the article. Where was the police intervention? Where was the
school or CPS? I realize in the 80’s things weren’t like they are now, but even
then, as a child in San Diego, I remember my teacher showing up on my doorstep
with my homework when I missed more than one day of class.
What are you thoughts and insights into this article? I'd love to know.
R.S.
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