A Grandfathers' Love

With all of the negative press going on over the last week about whacked-out fathers killing or torturing their children I though we could use some good news about the dedication of a Grandfather to his grandson:

“SAO PAULO, Brazil — A 66-year-old man saved his grandson from the grip of a 16-foot-long anaconda by beating the snake with rocks and a knife for half an hour, authorities said
Thursday.

"When I saw the snake wrapped around my grandson's neck I thought it was going to kill him," Joaquim
Pereira told Brazil's Agencia Estado news service. "It was agonizing, I pulled it from one side, but it would come back on the other."

Pereira's 8-year-old grandson, Mateus, was attacked by the anaconda while wandering near a creek on his grandfather's ranch in the city of Cosmorama, about 250 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.

While the boy was playing with friends, the snake attacked and wrapped itself around him, police officer Hudson Augusto said. Anacondas are not poisonous, but kill their prey by coiling around them and squeezing until victims suffocate.

It brought me to the ground and bit me," the boy told Globo TV. "Then it started crawling up my neck and began suffocating me."

Mateus' friends ran to get his grandfather, who reached the scene and battled with the snake until he had hurt it so badly that it let go of his grandson.”

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I don’t pretend to know exactly why people do what they do, when they hurt a child. I do know that inside each person is the strength to do the impossible when a loved one – especially a child is in danger. I know I would do whatever I could to protect mine. This story, hopefully, can balance out some of the negative images of dads over the last few days.