Sometimes, You Hate Being Right...
Here in fort Wayne, today is going to be one of those "bastard" weather days, and by that, I mean the weather won't know what it wants to do for the better part OF the day. We're getting a curious mix of rain, snow, perhaps some freezing rain or sleet...no one is certain, and that includes the people reporting the conditions.
It's the type of day where you travel as little as TWO miles in a certain direction, and you go from ONE weather event into another. Part of the city's roads may be a lot more passable down here than say...up to the North or West. Driving will indeed be a crapshoot this morning.
*** Now, onto the post behind the title...
You can ask the Missus about me being right...or correct with a lot of things, be they school-related, politics, society, but especially crime and the people that cause it.
She can tell you that I have correctly called the "type"of people moving around us for the better part of a DOZEN years of living here, and I can most always predict what people will do on the roads with us.
Naturally, like everything else in life, there is that "x" factor - the one person that will do the complete opposite of what you expect, but they are pretty much few and far between. Most people are creatures of HABIT (myself included).
I suppose most of it has to do with the manner in which people are raised, and by whom.
Much of the net result of a person's life has to do with what you are TAUGHT, what you manage to LEARN (because those two are not completely interchangeable), and how you decide to APPLY whatever you DO learn.
If a person is a slacker growing up, then not much of that will change when they become an adult.
Rare is the case where a person will take it upon THEMSELVES to change from years of unintended indoctrination.
I was raised to be a decent person, and I think I'm accomplishing that fine so far.
I was also raised to never stop trying, because the person who TRIES has a much greater chance of success, no matter what the venue.
Knowledge to me is very important, for without it, you haven't a snowball's chance in hell of ANY type of success.
Cripes, even the drug cartels in Mexico (like the Zetas - former Mexican special forces) have accumulated KNOWLEDGE, and readily apply it to their "trade", by erecting complex communication systems, building submersible craft, and doing things highly unthinkable in order to move their "product".
This kind of stuff (and much more) isn't for morons, people. These people KNOW things.
And while knowledge is highly sought after by those wishing to learn, you have to have "the other shoe" in order to tread about in life without causing injury to oneself, or to make your journey a lot more bearable.
That other shoe would be WISDOM.
Wisdom is the proper application of that knowledge you acquired in life. Think of wisdom as being that "right tool for the right job" deal.
Curiously enough, wisdom, like it's counterpart, knowledge is (or should be) a work in progress in one's life.
"The day you stop learning is the day they put you in the ground.", my Father used to say.
Now, I think that those of us fortunate to have parents that gave a crap and wanted more for us, or those of us who decided to seek out things for ourselves tend to be ahead of the curve regarding society.
And the longer you're on this planet, the easier it becomes to assess certain behaviors, people, situations...most anything.
But that never means you kick back and take things for granted, thanks to that "x-factor" I mentioned above.
I believe that many (if not ALL) of you readers often display your thoughts on specific subjects or people, and are correct in such things more often than many of the so-called "experts"...hey, that works for me.
So many of you "hit the nail on the head" so frequently, that I swear that many of you MUST have been Amish carpenters in a past life...lol.
(those folks can BUILD stuff...and FAST, too)
I, like you, don't mind being correct most of the time, because of what we were taught, and what we learn and how we apply it as we grow up.
I mean, someone's got to be right...it might as well be US, eh?
Now, I said all THAT...to say THIS:
*** The little 9-year old Fort Wayne girl (Aliahna Lemmon, who went missing for several days this past weekend) was found dead late yesterday, as I had originally thought she would be.
And that's not being ghoulish in any way...just a gut feeling from the facts as they were presented.
After a time, you just KNOW, and that's not always a good thing.
Here's the link to the latest news:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20111227/LOCAL07/312279959
I had hoped they would find her with some (as I said yesterday) "obscure" relative, but that was not to be the case.
And in situations like this, the FIRST 72 HOURS are the most critical...anything after that, and it's highly unlikely the person gone missing will be found
in a state that will be close to living. Less than 10% are found alive after that time, so the odds "favor the house" (as usual).
The "babysitter" , one Micheal Plumadore, 39, was arrested in connection with the murder - the ANGRY WHITE BOY BLOG (link to left) has a rather extensive background story about this person (interesting that authorities are not claiming manslaughter to some degree), so there HAS to be evidence pointing to some intent, however unintended.
Sheriff Ken Fries said "It was a horrific crime, worse than you can imagine".
That says to me that it will be a closed-coffin service for little Aliahna.
Missing children are frequently found within a MILE of their last known location, according to Fries.
I would concur, citing that only the most aberrant of psychopaths take their victims elsewhere.
Although Plumadore did not directly confess to the murder, he did tell police where they could find the body.
Plumadore also lives in the SAME trailer park as Aliahna's family.
It is believed that 15 registered sex ofenders live In that trailer park, and after being questioned, none of them were suspect.
This brings this sad story to an even sadder ending.
Has our society become so complacent, that we don't really know WHERE our children are...or WHO they are with?
Do we shuttle kids here, there and everywhere, because we can, rather than take the responsibility we CHOSE to take by having these children in the first place? What does that say about our negation of such responsibility?
Are we hoping that whenever we encounter a "bump in the road" in our lives, we can shove it off onto someone else...or even the government, because that's MUCH easier than shouldering those burdens and responsibilities ourselves?
What does that make us, then?
This story about Aliahna makes me wish I WAS wrong...that she would be alive and able to grow into a young woman and live HER life.
Yet, if I was wrong about her fate in this life in hoping she'd be found alive, I think I CAN be correct about where she is now...and that would be at peace and with God.
No one ever said life would be easy, and that we'd all be able to coast our way into adulthood, or even old age.
Any REAL individual will have to apply themselves...push themselves...challenge themselves.
And you will fail many times in your quest to "get it right"...there is no "instruction manual" for any circumstance, but there IS one for life.
So, if there comes a time when you need a refresher course in humankind 101, one should look no further than the Bible.
Maybe, if just one or two people had done that in Aliahna's brief lifetime, she'd still be with us.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it can also often be fatal.

Therein lies the lesson for today.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there America.