By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A Seattle news medium saw it fitting to send a news team out to investigate a report of a child leaving school early and walking home. No, it was not The Onion but KOMO News. It does show a sense of the zeitgeist and the culture of fear that is sadly inherent in many today.
A five year old boy wanted to walk home after having first been driving to school by his father. He then left school early and walked home to see his mother. He reportedly walked a mile to reach home.
In an interview with reporters, the father reported that he was “scared to death” when he received a call from the school the boy left.
“When somebody like that calls you, you think of every milk carton kid, every lost kid, every child molester”
The parents are now saying they will be home schooling their children beginning next school year.
The school admitted its error and vowed to beef up security and have more adults guarding the perimeter of the school as well as on crosswalks and throughout the area surrounding the school. It showed surveillance video of the boy leaving.
A news crew had a video segment retracing the boy’s route home. The reporter commented how there was no sidewalk and what he described as heavy traffic. (one car driving by) He asked rhetorically at an intersection “How could a little five year old get across without being hit?”
Then came the almost predictable reference to sex offenders amok in the community
“And I did some checking. There are five registered sex offenders in this general area; [Lacey, WA] fortunately, none around this route.”
Statistically, the boy would have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being abducted. But the fear is that child molesters wait behind trees and mailboxes all day to pounce upon wayward children.
Remembering back, somehow I survived my half-mile walk to kindergarten along with many of my other classmates. In fact, some of my elder relatives who went to school walking or on horseback generations ago seemed to have survived long enough to continue the family lineage. But today the perception of risk is so detached from actual risk the mollycoddling and defensiveness exercised by parents brings up the question of what is actually more of a risk to the children–the culture of fear or the extremely remote risk.
Sadly, a child errantly walking home becomes matter for a major news outlet.
Source: KOMO News
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
The world isn’t any more dangerous than it was not so longer ago when children spent hours outdoors unsupervised by adults and regularly went miles away from home by themselves. In fact, violent crimes are down across the board Irresponsible TV shows and news programs have just convinced people that it’s much more dangerous than it really is.
Does anyone sing it better than the remarkable Bernadette Peters?
Children will Listen
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bernadette+peters+singing+videos&FORM=VIRE5#view=detail&mid=B054055CFD170AC48138B054055CFD170AC48138
Tyger, Great story. I love real life stories that prove a point. And thanks for all the effort on the photo. We were in Prescott last year on our way home from San Diego. Didn’t hike but did lose $50 playing blackjack. We stayed @ the casino. Beautiful area. I like it better than Flagstaff.
I have a similar one. My wife and I were hiking near Lake Louise in Calgary. We were on a winding trail. There was a very young black bear cub about 10 feet up a tree. I could see momma @ the base of the tree w/ her guard up, giving us the stink eye. From my wife’s vantage point she could only see the cub and she said, “Ahhh look @ the cute cub.” I stayed calm as did you and said, “Honey, momma is right there. Just slowly back away.” She did just that and we then walked back the way we came.” That trail belonged to momma @ that time.
Oh, yeah. I just remembered why I posted the story about the rattlesnake. While we were shooting the photos of the snake, there were people insisting we should report the snake to the rangers so they could come take it away where The CHILLLDREN wouldn’t be exposed to the dangers of it. I told them it was a perfect opportunity for them to show their children what a live rattlesnake looked like and to show them how far we were staying back, and that they should always stay at least that far so they would never get bitten. AND that they should never try to pick up or handle a rattlesnake like that. Then the beautiful snake gets to stay living and the children stay safe and go on living. And we get to shoot pictures of the snake, which we couldn’t if the snake had been killed. Our way, everyone would be happy. They didn’t think much of my idea. Oh, well. It all turned out well in the end that night.
Ah, HA! Insert the link to just the photo on the website, then the user clicks on the link and gets to see the photo on the page all by it self. Victory! Now I’m going to bed. Nite-all!
Link: http://www.TygerGilbert.com/images/Photos/Black-Rattlesnake-at-Thumb-Butte-in-Prescott-457-620×465.jpg
One more try: