We have ALL failed the children in our world.
There is nothing worse in a community than the unexpected and shocking loss of a young child. A child of any age. For family and friends who lose a child, it's life's worst circumstance. For community members who may not know the family or the child, it still touches you deeply. Perhaps one feels the sympathy for the family and a relief that this tragedy did not befall their own home. Everywhere in the world, the loss of a child hits the deepest darkest fear in every parent and it resonates like a church bell gone awry. Whether by accident or a conscious act, nothing compares to this grief.
As I watched the Casey Anthony Trial I marveled at the emotional love-hate relationship I experience with Nancy and the "Gracettes." On one level, I continue to deeply admire her commitment and courage to tackle the violence in our society that targets women and kids. In another way, she is similar to John Walsh whom after his son's kidnapping and death, dedicated his life to creating an awareness of capture of bad people. Nancy similarly does this, and her works keeps these personal stories in the spotlight.
On a completely different level, the sensational aspects of her CNN programming is inflammatory. Nancy and her "trauma-Ettes" are the are the Rupert Murdoch of television tabloid. Despite the pros and cons of the programming that keeps this issue in the forefront, cases like the Casey Anthony murder trial give no satisfaction. Whether you believe that Ms. Anthony is guilty or innocent, there is still a two-year-old that is no longer with us.
What makes this sad story even more horrific is the constant barrage of Caylee videos. That damn kid is so cute to think that she is no longer with us, breaks your heart. I sometimes can't imagine why -- if Casey didn't want her child, she wouldn't give her daughter to her parents. Or to the many Americans that are childless... So many of us would have taken that child.
Saturday, I read about the ongoing Village Voice disagreement with Ashton Kutcher. Apparently there was a disagreement over the statistics that Demi Moore and Kutcher used in their ad campaign to stop sexually slavery. The disagreement escalated as Kutcher accused the Village Voice of helping facilitate prostitution of minors through their classified ads.
The whole point of campaign was to shed light on a HUGE problem in the United States. Accurate statistics are hard to get. Most statistics are only the cases that come forward. The Village Voices stance and response is very peculiar. And unfortunately it gives credence to the myth that statistics on slavery and abuse are overblown by liberals, human rights activist and the Rottweiler next door.
The same could be said of Casey Anthony. We can get lost in the bizarre and sordid events but in the end, Caylee is still dead. Someone got away with murder. Don't think this story won't stay in the minds of some unbalanced individuals, who have access to kids or worse have their own.
Poor little Leiby Kletzky, an eight year old so eager to become a "Big Boy." His reluctant parent's finally agreed to let him walk part of the way home from camp. As luck would have it Leiby got lost. He turned to the wrong person, vulnerable and naive-for who wants to teach they're 8 year old that EVIL this dark lives two blocks away-and lost his life. Another gruesome murder of a child as his dismembered body is found.
Lastly, let's take Rupert Murdoch's kingdom of profitability. His unquenchable greed feeds his his continuous thirst for the newest scandal, the most detailed dirt to feed to the tabloids. Allegedly one of Murdoch's employees hacked into the phone of missing Milly Dowler and possibly hampering her murder case. Milly too, was abducted while she was walking home.
Whether it is Caylee, Leiby or Milly, the perpetrators mesmerize us. We can't get enough of the details. These evil human beings prey on our children, on young women and we reward them. They become famous, write books, and get million dollars deals-all because they kidnapped and killed another human being.
This is where all of us are responsible. We watch these events, we buy those magazines, we can't seem to take our eyes off the television. Murdoch's success with tabloids could not have been possible, if we didn't buy them. His team kept feeding our shark-like frenzy with the macabre, the horrific.
Nancy, Rupert, Casey-they all have something in common. They have an uncanny ability to gauge the interests of people, of human nature. They are feeding our desires.
How many children will become victims of this horrible machine we created before we start to look at our behavior? Mark David Chapman, John Hinckley, Richard Allen Davies, have all become celebrities of "sort". Today we are enabling and encouraging those who are capable of horrid acts of mutilation and murder...because we want to have a ringside seat. Are we just animals after all? Are we any different than the Romans watching Catholics being eaten by the lions? Or by those families who made an outing of watching people hang?
It is clear that all of us have become nurturers for those who are likely to prey on our children. We foster, we encourage and we drive that insatiable need to devour the newest, incredible tale as our moral compass lies buried beneath the bones of our young.
For all of our children, and women who have died by acts of violence perpetrated in our society, forgive us.