We never heard alot out of Ralph Bulger in the beginning. As a matter of fact in the news I saw, it seemed to take awhile for James's father to even be mentioned. The picture I have above is one of the only two I could find on the web of him, whereas there are alot of snapshots of Denise floating around. Of course it always seems to be the case that mothers receive more media focus than fathers do in these circumstances, and that is to be expected. After all, who was James at the mall with when he disappeared? Mum. Who was James usually with most of the day? Mum. Who carried James for nine months? Of course, Mum. So I suppose this is why mothers are mentioned more than fathers in the event of a child's death. At any rate, for the first few days after I'd found out about this case, all I could find was info about Denise then-Bulger. The media went in circles around her and several times over released the same news in different wording about how it came to be that she lost sight of James, what exactly they were doing at the mall that day, and so on.

But finally it is brought up: James did indeed have a father, and his name was Ralph.

During the Thompson/Venables trial, it is to my knowledge that Ralph was present, maybe every time. Denise was seven months pregnant then, and stayed away. I'm sure that was not only because of being pregnant, but because for any mother the details of their child's murder, particularly a murder like James's, would be positively unbearable to hear.

However, Ralph did go, surrounded by a slue of extended family and close friends. I'm sure this was of some support to him, but you can yet imagine how strong he had to be to sit there and listen over and over again to what these two "animals" did to his defenseless two-year-old son -- a son who probably met him at the door every day starting from about as soon as he could walk, with bright eyes, a big smile, and cheerful chattering. Not anymore. Now there was no James to wake up to, no James to play with, no James to love on.......it had all ended so suddenly, and there was nothing he could do about it but be forced to wait calmly as pile after pile of evidence was heaped upon two schoolboys.

I've never been a mother, much less a father, so I can't possibly speculate the suffering and heartache Ralph Bulger has had to live through in the past ten years. Who could ever blame him for being so adamant about seeking revenge? Ralph has been strong, and surely everyone must realize that. You have to admire the man, because not once have I heard him issue any vigilante threats or cause a huge public upheaval of any kind, save trying to appeal the matter of the boys' release from detention to the government. He recently called for restraint and "time to reflect" upon the matter as opposed to a frenzied hype. For the father of a brutally murdered child, I'd have to say he's done very well.

But despite his apparent strength, Ralph remains a very broken man. He lost his beloved child in the most horrible manner possible, and has been forced to bear it all with a lonely, desolate heart. We should continue to keep Ralph, especially, in our prayers.

Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that James' uncle, Jimmy, brother of Ralph, was the one who took upon himself the gruesome job of going to identify the body. I, myself, am an aunt, and the whole idea of going to claim the limp, shattered body of my little nephew doesn't fail to bring tears to my eyes. Jimmy Bulger has his own weight to bear, and my heart goes out to him.