infinite improbability

Carlie

As I mentioned over on Scott's blog, I had thought about blogging about Carlie Brucia's kidnapping and murder but I didn't know what else there was to say. I still don't know what there is to say, but I thought that it might be cathartic to get some thoughts down. If what I write is stream of consciousness, then bear with me.

For the last week, the only thing on the news or in the papers has been the search for Carlie Brucia. I don't live in Sarasota but I live close enough that all of the Amber Alert warnings weren't just some abstract thing in another place that you happen to hear about on the national news from time to time. My neighbor's son-in-law works with Carlie's step-father, the youth leader at the youth group my brother has been going to for the last few weeks lives down the street from Carlie's family. You hear about kidnappings in other places and think how horrible it must be, but it's different when it's not just some other place, when you look at the maps they put on TV and know exactly where it is, when you watch Hannity and Colmes and you know who the private investigator they are talking to is and know the backstory to his reference to knowing what it's like to lose a close relative to violent crime, and when you hear about how Joseph P. Smith was aquitted of a previous kidnapping charge and you remember reading about the case in the paper and remember thinking how terrible and outrageous it was that the jury bought his lame half baked defense and let him off.

The thing I don't understand is how, after hearing all that's happened, so many parents are still letting their kids run around unattended. I've never understood how the parents in my neighborhood didn't realize how dangerous it was to be letting their kids run all over the place, cut through neighbor's yards, and in general go wandering off without adult supervision. You'd think that those parents would think twice about letting their kids go off unsupervised after what's happened, but apparently it's hasn't, because they're still running around unwatched. I was driving around running errands on Thursday and there was a good half dozen kids that could have grabbed without any effort or weapons, and a few dozen more that could have been grabbed by anyone with a weapon who was so inclined. It's almost like the question that we should be asking isn't just "how could this happen to Carlie?" we should also ask "why are we so fortunate that it hasn't happend to more kids?" The only reason there aren't more kidnappings is because there aren't many people perverted enough to do it--it certainly isn't because of lack of opportunity.