It is human nature to search for hope in the face of tragedy. Perhaps that is all the Western North Carolina community can do as it deals with the death last week of 8-year-old Devin Gibson.

Devin died after being left inside his mother’s car while she was working her job as a nursing assistant at the Mountain Trace Nursing Center in Sylva. The boy reportedly suffocated while his mom, Michelle Gibson, was working her second straight day of 16-hour shifts at the center. Law enforcement officials say the boy was locked in the trunk and she has been charged with second-degree murder and two counts of felony child abuse. Her attorney claims the child was not trapped in the car, that he was left in the passenger compartment. He claims some Escorts like the one Gibson owns allow access from the backseat to the trunk.

Many relatives and friends claim the mother was usually attentive and loving, but that financial stress may have contributed to her negligence. Regardless of whether the mother is found guilty or not, the young boy is dead.

So what is there for us to take out of this?

For one, the danger posed from leaving children in hot cars in the summer is very real. In the past six years, 230 children have died of vehicular hypothermia, according to a university study. Children’s bodies heat up faster than adults, and so they are more susceptible. According to Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, in 10 minutes the temperature inside an enclosed car can reach 120 degrees. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can set in, and this prohibits the body from perspiring. As body temperatures rise, damage occurs to the brain, liver, and kidneys.

There is never a good reason to leave a child in a car on a summer day.

No one should make excuses for the mother, but the case also points out the desperate choices many single parents living in poverty are forced to make. We can only wonder how many other children are left unattended at home or in cars every day in Western North Carolina?

Many are left wondering why there is not a better system of daycare in this country. In this region in particular, there is a severe shortage of providers, and even if openings come up, the working poor simply can’t afford it. We know many will it as a handout, but there is no more fundamental need in this capitalist nation than a modern, free day-care system that will allow single, working parents or two-parent, low-income families to stay on the job or stay in school when children arrive. Other so-called civilized nations do this much better than us, and in some European countries moms are paid to stay home by the government so they can take care of their own child and perhaps three or four of the neighbors’ kids.

The death of Devin Gibson won’t change the world we live in, but perhaps it might make us a bit more aware of some of its shortcomings and how we might work to make things better.