Mad At Myself: Personal Growth On Pause?

To heck with personal growth. I am so mad I am beside myself. I've been mad since the Bradley sisters went missing. I'm mad about the events between the discovery of Darnell Donerson and Jason Hudson to the discovery of Julian King's body. These events should have led to a quicker discovery of that SUV. I am mad at myself for not doing anything in 2001 and not doing anything most recently.

I'm mad at the Chicago Police Department, Cook County Sheriff, State Police and the FBI. I'm mad at the Illinois Department of Corrections for not revoking that idiot's parole. I'm mad at cracks where important things seem to fall. I'm mad at that woman who saw the suspect vehicle two days before calling police. I mad at everyone else in that neighborhood who thought nothing of a vehicle fitting the description right down to the license plate. I'm mad at the media who made it easy for people to focus on Jennifer Hudson more than finding Julian King. I'm mad at the media for not stressing to people, while they were being mesmerized and hypnotized by the late-breaking and updating news reports, to stop right now and go out into your neighborhoods. The media has this reach and this power. They need to use it for our children's sake. I'm mad for needing to be told what to do.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems reasonable that a search would be performed in the area where the suspect was apprehended. So why wasn't it and why were the police only concentrating on the east side? I'm mad at law enforcement for lying about why they didn't search the area near Balfour's girlfriend's residence. That woman's dog was the only one who seemed to show any sense of awareness.

What could I have done? I could have taken personal responsibility. The difference between ourselves and anyone else's disaster is less than an arm length and less that a moment's worth of time. We cannot sit around and wait for the police to find our children. I could have looked outside my window, stood on my sidewalk, walked my block and drove around my neighborhood. I could have asked others to help. It doesn't always take going out with a stick into the bushes, woods and rivers.

We are a pitiful bunch of detached, television-trained spectators waiting for real-life drama to unfold. We watch it, read about it , talk about it, Google it, gawk at it and in between, we go on as though everything is normal. We're somehow able to sleep, get up, go to work, go to church and repeat the cold cycle. The things we express as sentiments put our actions to shame.

The Red Cross comes for fire and natural disasters. Who comes when the disaster of a missing child strikes our neighborhood? Why can't we have the national guard come in and help perform searches?

In memory of Julian King and all murdered children. In hope of Diamond Bradley, Tionda Bradley and children still missing. It is your pain that matters, not ours. What we do in your defense and to bring you home is who we really are.

References: Chicago Tribune, Fox News and Chicago Sun-Times.

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Diamond Bradley, Julian King, missing children, personal growth, personal responsibility, Tionda Bradley