There's a lot on my mind today, so I'm going to devote a bit to each topic...so if I ramble, please forgive me.I'm going to start with some good news first. No, it's great news! Elizabeth Smart, the now 15 year old girl kidnapped from her home in Utah in June, 2002, was found alive and well and has been reunited with her family. I don't know this girl or her family and I haven't even been following the case very closely. I, like most Americans, probably figured she was dead and that someday, someone might find her body somewhere. Then suddenly, within a minute of each other, two calls some into the police department and the girl is found within the hour. When I read the breaking news (well, breaking for me, anyway) on a forum I frequent, my chest suddenly felt very tight, my eyes filled with tears of joy and I ran to tell my wife the good news. (For the record, she didn't appreciate being woken up out of a dead sleep by yours truly.)
But despite my overwhelming joy at hearing of Elizabeth's safe return, my heart was also breaking for the millions of parents out there who have missing children. Elizabeth's case was unique and is not the norm. And yet, her safe return will fan the flames of hope for many other parents of missing children. And for most of these, it will be a false hope. (Understand, in most child abduction cases, the abductor is a non-custodial parent. I'm not talking about these cases since, once the kidnapped child is on his/her own, there's a good chance they will contact the other parent. I'm talking about abduction by stranger cases.) Is it better for them to continue to hold onto this hope, as slim as it may be, or is it better for them to let it go and to move on? Is it possible to move on if one still has hope that one's child will be returned one day? What about those who have given up hope-- will this case cause that hope to reignite and if so, at what price? I have no answers...
Regardless of the motive for the kidnapping, Elizabeth has a long road of recovery ahead of her. The kind of trauma she had to be experiencing by the very act of being on the run and having to watch every word she said will take it's toll. I wish her and her family all the best and I share in their joy. But I also share in the pain of those parents whose children are still missing. Let's keep all parents of missing children the world over in our thoughts and prayers today.
Now onto the not so good news. The deadline that the Bush/Blair coalition set is fast approaching. Will we wake up Monday morning to news of an invasion of Iraq? Or will the prayers for peace that are encircling the globe continue to hold off the warmongers?
It is so hard for me to understand how anyone can support Bush given all the evidence that has come to light in recent months about the legitimacy of his "evidence" linking Iraq and Al Qaeda. (I heard a joke somewhere that went something like this: "Hey! Did you hear the government finally found a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda? Yeah...seems they both contain the letter "Q"." Kind of sums up the strength of his "links".) But what frightens me more than an impending war against Iraq is the war that the Bush administration is waging against American citizens. Executive orders now give churches access to government funds-- in direct violation of the US Constitution. Did you know that the Patriot Act, passed hurriedly after 9/11, was never viewed by the members of Congress who voted on it? They had no idea what they were voting on when they passed it. They just took the Bush administration's word with respect to what it contained. Now the "Son of Patriot" is up for passage: and once again, lawmakers weren't being given copies of the law they are to vote on. But copies have come to light-- and it is now possible for the government to strip natural citizens of their citizen ship if they find they have been supporting a terrorist organization. (The definitions of "supporting" and "terrorist organization" are left up to the executive office to determine.) This very article could be construed as support for a terrorist organization since I am recommending an overthrow of the current administration. Sadly, most Americans are still not educating themselves about the issues, content to get their "information" from the media, who in turn gets it from the government. Kind of like putting the fox in charge of guarding the hen house if you ask me.
Now onto the infuriating. Have you read the stories about teaching colleges that allow gynecology students to perform gynecological exams on women who are going into surgery? No one has been getting the women's permission when they've done this. This is the year 2003, for God/dess's sake! How can any medical facility allow this to happen? What kind of "ethics" are they teaching these new medical students if they're teaching them that it's okay to experiment on an unconscious woman without her permission? Why, given the number of doctors that graduate every single year, is this only now coming to light? And why are not each and every one of the schools that allow this practice to continue coming out now and saying, "We're sorry! We're going to put an immediate halt to this!" I wonder if they allow students to give unconscious men proctology or prostate exams before they go into surgery. For all the energy and effort women have been putting in to achieving equality, this revelation goes to show just how much women are still viewed by society in general and by males in particular as nothing more than objects to be used to help the man achieve what the man wants to achieve.
Just so we don't end on a negative note-- my youngest son won his first round wresting match last night! Two more wins tonight and he'll be advancing on to the state competition next week. He was so excited when he won last night as he hasn't been having the best of years. And I'm so excited for him. If I remember, I'll come back tonight or tomorrow and let you know how he did....
OK, final update. He won his second round match, which meant going back on Saturday to compete in the semi-finals. But he lost there and then he lost his first round consolation round to the kid who was last years champion. He was disappointed but he handled it well. (Note to parents whose kids might want to go into wrestling: Over all, we spent about 17 hours at the matches to watch him wrestle for about 10 minutes. That's normal. Wear comfortable clothes and take something soft to sit on: bleacher seats get really uncomfortable rather quickly.)
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