So I was reading about the three women in Cleveland that had been kidnapped and held prisoner for a decade. I would love to go on a two hour rant about the sick, demented fools that did this. I'd also love to string them up by their nags in the middle of the town square. Truth is they are not the only ones doing this. As I continue to read more and more articles, I realize how much emphasis the media is putting on the fact that these families never stopped searching for their daughters. I hate to sound arrogant, but do people in the media not have kids?
If you have lived for more than a few years you know what it's like to drop everything because a loved one is in need. How many sleepless nights have you spent with your sick child in your arms? How many nights have we all slept in chairs at the side of a hospital bed with our Grandfather facing death or our Mother fighting a disease? The media writes about this as if it's a totally foreign concept. From reading these views you would think the reporters expect for you to be upset the day your child goes missing and back to the status quo the next day. When you get that phone call about an accident that involves a loved one, I assure nothing else is important. When your Aunt is diagnosed with cancer the monthly bills are not dominating your thoughts. When our younger Son was in the first grade he came down with meningitis. I can tell you that our whole world came to a stop. Whether or not we had enough vacation days to stay in the hospital was not relevant in our decisions. My wife's pending real estate contracts were no longer the issue at hand. Whether or not we could afford the hospital bills meant absolutely nothing. The only thing that mattered was the life of our child.
Apathy is a terrible disease and it does run wild in our society. I tend to believe (and maybe I'm naive) that we all love our families. Searching for a daughter for ten years may sound like a lot but for the love of a family member it is not even a choice. I just wish we could all love our neighbors the same way. Clearly, in this Cleveland neighborhood apathy for others kept these girls prisoners for years. I mean what could it hurt to go knock on your neighbor's door and introduce yourself? Bring a pie to an elderly person down the street and ask about their grandchildren. You don't have to bear their burdens. Just lend an ear and show some interest and you might just make a connection. A connection that might cause the neighbor to look out for you on your darkest day.
Galatians 5:14
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
