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Girl Let Off a Wrong Bus Stop NOT Molested and Left For Dead
Filed under: In The News, Media, Opinions
It happens every so often at the beginning of the school year and this September was no exception. The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa., reports that, sadly, a 7-year-old was let off at the wrong bus stop the other day, even after she told the bus driver it was not where she was supposed to get off. It was, instead, four blocks from her house.
The father of another child at that stop helped the girl get home. But, her parents note (according to the article), "She could just as easily have encountered a predator. "
Really? "Just as easily?" So it's a 50-50 split now, between predators and everybody else on the street? If one person's walking a dog, the next one is probably carrying some duct tape and chloroform?
Why doesn't the reporter bother to inject a little skepticism about this outlook?
Because the media are invested in making everyday life dramatic and scary.
The article quotes the parents as saying the child has sworn off buses for the rest of her life (considering how close she came to being sold into white slavery, I guess). And the father told the paper that he thinks "parents who have their children ride school buses should be very concerned."
Look, if this incident happened to my child, I, too, would have been very concerned. And I'd complain to the bus company and I'd make sure we got it all figured out, and I'd probably want the idiot driver who didn't listen to my kid to get some kind of punishment. And possibly a brain transplant.
But one upsetting incident does not mean the whole system is screwed up and our children are in danger. And yet, that's exactly how we're being conditioned to think -- by stories like this. When you get right down to it: What was this other than the tale of a kid who got left at the wrong bus stop? I'm sorry, that's just not news. It's only news when it can be elevated to a brush with death, which is what the media are constantly doing. And they do this so well that we have all started to think the same way: A blip in my child's day? She could easily end up DEAD!
Alarmism becomes second nature. We can't go with the flow. And yet the fact is there are always bumps in life. Humans, even children, weather the vast majority of them just fine. That's part of how you grow up and get smart.
You can bet that 7-year-old girl is going to stand up for her rights, and even learn her way around the neighborhood. A neighborhood probably filled with a lot more dog walkers than chloroform-carrying creeps.
The father of another child at that stop helped the girl get home. But, her parents note (according to the article), "She could just as easily have encountered a predator. "
Really? "Just as easily?" So it's a 50-50 split now, between predators and everybody else on the street? If one person's walking a dog, the next one is probably carrying some duct tape and chloroform?
Why doesn't the reporter bother to inject a little skepticism about this outlook?
Because the media are invested in making everyday life dramatic and scary.
The article quotes the parents as saying the child has sworn off buses for the rest of her life (considering how close she came to being sold into white slavery, I guess). And the father told the paper that he thinks "parents who have their children ride school buses should be very concerned."
Look, if this incident happened to my child, I, too, would have been very concerned. And I'd complain to the bus company and I'd make sure we got it all figured out, and I'd probably want the idiot driver who didn't listen to my kid to get some kind of punishment. And possibly a brain transplant.
But one upsetting incident does not mean the whole system is screwed up and our children are in danger. And yet, that's exactly how we're being conditioned to think -- by stories like this. When you get right down to it: What was this other than the tale of a kid who got left at the wrong bus stop? I'm sorry, that's just not news. It's only news when it can be elevated to a brush with death, which is what the media are constantly doing. And they do this so well that we have all started to think the same way: A blip in my child's day? She could easily end up DEAD!
Alarmism becomes second nature. We can't go with the flow. And yet the fact is there are always bumps in life. Humans, even children, weather the vast majority of them just fine. That's part of how you grow up and get smart.
You can bet that 7-year-old girl is going to stand up for her rights, and even learn her way around the neighborhood. A neighborhood probably filled with a lot more dog walkers than chloroform-carrying creeps.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
10-12-2010 @ 3:01PM
Tanka said...Yes, there are a lot of paranoidal people around. They also wash hands like crazies and throw towels away after each use because there are so many bacteria that if they don't do so the world will just crack down.
Reply
10-14-2010 @ 9:39PM
teachermotherandstuff said...I am a Kindergarten teacher in a very large East coast city. I have had 4 kids dropped off at the wrong stops, one of them is autistic, and non of them should be left without an adult present. It is unsafe and unacceptable, but no one is outraged. There is no media attention, just terrified parents and children lost in the streets for 20 minutes to an hour and a half. I hope this never happens to your child, and God help the bus driver that may ever do that to mine.
Reply
10-28-2010 @ 10:38PM
youngh said...How sad. Let's put an end to child abuse.
When someone says there's no point in doing something because they're just one person, remind them "No one raindrop thinks it caused the flood"
Google avivacommunityfund acf5451
Reply
1-12-2011 @ 2:16PM
Tiffany said...So, gambling that our children will be safe if they are left wandering out in the street....is now acceptable behavior? What if it were the reverse...let's say...a child wanders out into the street while his/her mom/dad/guardian is preoccupied with anything at all....and gets snatched up or hit by a car or some other horrid fate....would you all be saying "SHIT HAPPENS" or would it be more like "WHERE WERE THE PARENTS??", "WHY WEREN'T THEY WATCHING THEIR CHILD??" - I am willing to bet it would be an overwhelming majority of the latter...as a matter of fact, the family would more than likely be put under a state "protective services" microscope and talked about like they were lazy idiots if not out and out criminally charged. Talk about a hypocritic society...wow.
There is a fine line parents have to walk every day...if they choose to over protect their children...good for them. I can live easily with being called over-protective by the faceless masses. At least then if (God forbid) something horrid does happen I will know I have literally done everything I could to prevent it. What I cannot bear is the thought of being negligent in my duties and allowing an unnecessary and avoidable risk of danger into my children's lives (I have three by the way...one in her third year of college and extremely happy, one in middle school and as happy as a teenager can be, and one in elementary school and joyfully over-protected) just to gain the approval of any of you.
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