When I was in fourth grade, and my twins sisters D and D were in seventh grade, something horrible happened. Horrible in the sense that our innocence was broken, and we learned a valuable lesson. A bit of history first.
There were eight children in my family, six girls and two boys. We lived in the city at the time, less than 3 blocks from the elementary school we attended. We lived a very sheltered life, as in we were never allowed out of the yard, never allowed to stay with friends, never allowed to go anywhere unattended. Our parents had a healthy fear of the unknown, and passed that onto us. It didn't help that they both read murder magazines and novels and were well aware of the dangers that faced innocent children.
It was early fall about the time it is now, and we were allowed to walk the 3 blocks to school in the morning, and in the afternoon make the trek back home. There were eight of us, and my parents felt fairly secure to let us walk, in that there is safety in numbers. One afternoon my sister D who was by then in 7th grade stayed after school for an intramural ballgame, and had to walk home by herself. On her way home, on a very busy street, a man pulled up beside her in a truck, opened the door and grabbed her arm. He had unzipped his pants and was exposing himself to her. She was no match for him, weighing about 75lbs, and being of small build. By the grace of God, or because she was so wiley, she managed to pull away from him and run home. She was terrified, and though she could give a complete description of the truck, the man was never found. My father was furious and ready to kill this man, and my mother was totally devastated. Needless to say, that was the end of our walking to school, and any little bit of freedom that had offered us.
As a mother of two children, I NEVER allowed them to go anywhere alone. I took them everywhere they went, and if need be sat in the van and read a book, to keep a healthy distance, but still give my children supervision. I never took safety for granted, and I was very over protective. I'm sure my children would have appreciated a little space, but I was unable to give it to them due to my fear of losing them to a predator.
The recent kidnappings and murders of all these innocent girls and boys in our country, has made me livid. First of all, No child should walk anywhere alone. Not one block, not two blocks, not to a friends, not to school or the store. We do not live in a safety zone, there is no such thing. How hard is it to drive your child a block over to their friends house? If it saves their lives, not too hard at all. Some of the responsibility of losing these children, rests solely on the parent. Now you can get angry all you want, say what you will..but we DO NOT LIVE IN A SAFE PLACE, there is no such thing. Parents have to be ever vigilant and work together to assure the safety of their child and his/her friends.
Yes it sucks that we are at this point. Yes it is sad that we have perverts amongst us, but it is a fact. Every single neighborhood is a target. Even if you live in a gated community, in a mansion, you are not safe. Think about Elizabeth Smart, kidnapped out of her bedroom window, of a mansion now, by a carpenter. We need to teach our children to follow their gut instinct, if something doesn't feel right, it isn't..and they need to bail. We need to teach safety, but more than anything, we need to be more vigilant.
Child abduction is a game of opportunity. If the opportunity is there, they pick up on it. Sure they might be scouting out a child for awhile, but likely as not, they just spotted them and grabbed the opportunity. How many lives are we going to have to lose before we get stricter laws and bury some of these predators? I say if your DNA is found inside of a child (in any capacity), you need to be taken out back and shot dead. Who would do the killing?? Give the gun to the parent of that child. I assure you my father would have killed that man for trying to take my sister, killed him and went home and ate dinner. I as a parent, would not have blamed him one little bit.
Sorry folks, just needed a rant. Please if you do nothing else as a parent, be VIGILANT!!! Keep a chain of supervision on your child at all times. No child needs to die, they deserve to live. If you are a child predator..get some HELP!! If I got my hands on you, meek and mild and kind as I am, God help you.
peace :) shemelts
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