The local news last night aired a story about Michelle Gardner-Quinn, the University of Vermont student who disappeared earlier in the month and was found dead by hikers a few days ago. Michelle was from a suburb of Washington, D.C.
A woman interviewed in the story, a neighbor of Michelle's family, talked fondly about her relationship with the girl. She'd known her since 8th grade and Michelle and her son were very good friends. She emotionally recalled how Michelle used to ask people,"Can I travel with you?" and said now that Michelle was gone, she would always be traveling with those who loved her.
The woman being interviewed was someone I know and have worked with.
In the last month we've seen the loss of children as a result of the school shootings in Colorado and Pennsylvania. I wept for the families. But when you find out that you have a connection to a story like this, it truly hits home. Things this terrible don't just happen far away, to people you don't know.
News Mom V.
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5 comments:
Unfortunately, you're right. Maybe there's nothing that we can do about any of these kinds of tragedies. Or, maybe, when we wake up and accept that we are in this together we will finally start looking for some real solutions. It's always the parents who lose children who become advocates. Why do we wait? I think it's because acknowledging that it could happen to us. Acknowledging that evil exists. That's all just to scary.
too scary. Ironically, and on a ligher note, I've been blogging about spelling errors! :)
Ha! lighter note. FAULTY KEYBOARD! :)
I used to fear certain tragedies with my chidlren, but learned five years ago that we can't anticipate all of them when our young son nearly lost his life to a medical problem and was permanently disabled from it. Some of my fears have gone astray, but as my oldest is now in his teens, different ones surface like those in this blogg. Advocating where change can be made makes a difference, but also realizing that we are all "those other people."
L -- That's a loaded question, and a complicated one.
I think you and Bob Herbert are partially right. But part of the problem, and a better explanation, is that the vast majority of perpetrators of these crimes are men.
It's not necessarily that "society" is dehumanizing girls and women, but that the criminals, whose state of mind is not that of your average citizen, are doing so.
So in response to Herbert's assertion that "little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted" -- Yes, that's true, but that's because it was not a surprising element to the stories.
Recent crime statistics from the Child Trends Data Bank actually show that boys age 12-19 have a higher rate of crime victimization than girls, with the exception of rape and sexual assault.
Now, getting back to your point, yes there is a larger problem that this type of crime against girls is EXPECTED.
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