Community grieves along with family

Last week, 3-year-old Loic Rogers' life came to a tragic end as the Flathead Valley and nation focused on the search for the missing boy and discovery of his body two days later in a septic tank.

For those agonizing two days, we were all thinking about the blond-haired, blue-eyed child with the enchanting smile.

Many of us in the community showed up to help look for Loic. Many of us prayed. Many of us held our own little children a little closer.

All of us realized how quickly a life can be snatched away.

We'd venture to guess there's not a parent among us who hasn't turned the other way, if only for a few seconds, when we should have been watching our children. To err is human.

It's easy for us to speculate about the tragedy. It's easy to place blame. The sheriff department's investigation may shed new light on what happened to Loic, but there still may be lingering questions when all is said and done. People will always speculate about negligence or poor judgment. Others will see no way to think about such a horrible death except to say once again that the ways of God are not the ways of man.

But while investigators sift through the details, we should reserve our own judgment and think instead about the family's loss. The tragedy of Loic's death should not be lost amid the family's other troubles, namely a custody dispute involving Loic's siblings that has divided the family and prompted separate funerals and memorial funds.

We cannot make people behave better, but we would hope that life can teach us to be better. This is a time to stand together, to learn to appreciate the gifts we are given, and to forgive ourselves and others for the great harm that is sometimes done with the smallest act of carelessness or foolishness.

A positive note in this sad story is the support Flathead Valley residents showed for the Rogers family. About 200 people helped look for Loic. We should be glad that in this corner of the world, we still help our neighbors. We still care.