“A mother’s worst nightmare almost came true in broad daylight after a man may have tried to lure her toddler daughter in a residential area.”
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Gee, that’s a lot of hedging for the first paragraph of an article. Something ALMOST, MAY HAVE happened. Yikes! But so begins a “news” story on KHQ, a news station covering Post Falls, Idaho. I’ll leave you to guess whether there really was a bad man luring kids in broad daylight…or a Parks Dept guy setting up a T-ball game.
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Here’s the write-up and the rather amazing TV story accompanying it that manages to sound terrifying, dead serious, and laughable all at once. I forgot to put it on this blog over the summer and only recently unearthed it. So I guess everyone in the media — including me! — has the same M.O.: If it’s a slow news day, you really don’t need anything more than a terrified mom’s “worst nightmare,” whether anything happened or not.
P.S. I wish I could remember how I learned afterward that the “possible child lurer” was actually a parks guy doing his job, but that’s what I get for posting this months later. I forget who sent me the follow-up info. If you find it, please share it with me! Email: Lenore at LetGrow.org . Thanks!
I think this is part of the “Taken” phenomenon, from the movie starring Liam Neeson. In that movie his teenage daughter is kidnapped while in Paris with a friend and Neeson goes on a rampage to hunt her down, killing lots of bad guys in the process. (I thought it was a great movie. I loved it.)
This movie scenario might seem like every dad’s worst nightmare, but in many ways it’s actually many dad’s greatest fantasy — the idea of heroically saving your daughter from a brutal life as a sex slave. I think many parents would relish the chance to be that hero. (Instead of being the hero by being a stable and loving presence, being at dinner every night, that sort of thing.)
I think that many parents desperately want to be the kind of action hero we see in the movies, so they let their minds believe that so many people who are just setting up a T-ball game are actually trying to lure their kids into slavery. These parents desperately want to fight a bad guy, so they let their minds imagine that bad guys are all around.
This is very insightful. I wish more people could see as much. All of us have blind spots in our character. I.E. We’re oblivious to our flaws. It takes bravery to look inside deep enough to see the uncomfortable truths. It’s easier (in the short term) to avoid doing this and instead become outraged.
“HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT I WANT SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO MY DAUGHTER? YOU MUST BE A #$$%#$#*&*^^%$$# AND A %^*^^%%^$%#$!!!!!!”
As I said, this is easier in the short term. However, it means this baggage that follows you like a shadow and will continue to stuff up your life.
“This is very insightful.” I was referring to the comment made be Steve
Hate, fear, and outrage all produce the ‘happy’ chemicals. All emotions have some sort of chemical attached to them. Humans can become addicted to these hormones. Even sadness and despair can be addicting. They don’t produce the great feeling that recreational drugs do. However, eliminating the dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, (or whatever gives you the ‘pep’ in order to help you through this bad time) will give you the horrible withdrawal reaction as you go through detoxification.
This is why it’s so hard to change. Perhaps you hear a TED talk and decide to change your life. After one week into your changed lifestyle, you go through a mild form of detox. This ‘energy leech’ sucks out your enthusiasm/determination just like a leech that sucks out blood!
You then talk to yourself. “I’ll do this later. Life is too hectic right now. I’ll do this in the future. Besides, things aren’t really that bad.”
Heroine is as addicting as an emotion such as anger, despair, or outrage. When these strong emotions come up, the adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.
OKOKOKOK that was a false statement. Heroin is 1,000 times more addicting. However, things such as adrenaline and cortisol are 1,000 times easier to obtain. In fact, we can ‘get our fix’ without even trying! We can misinterpret situations or see things that aren’t there.
For example
I KNOW THAT YOUR SHAKING YOUR HEAD AND ROLLING YOUR EYES RIGHT NOW! YOU THINK THAT I’M STUPID! IF I COULD REACH THROUGH YOUR SCREEN I’D TWIST YOUR HEAD OFF AND SPIT DOWN YOUR THROAT!
Or
I’m doing it again. I always make a fool of myself. This is why everybody hates me! I’m such a worthless loser!
Another example would be:
OMG! THAT GUY SETTING UP A T-BALL GAME IS TRYING TO KIDNAP MY DAUGHTER SO THAT HE CAN SELL HER AS A SEX SLAVE!