Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder charges. This may enrage you but I’ll be honest, it really doesn’t even stir my coffee. Now don’t get me wrong, Caylee’s death was sad and if Casey was responsible for it then she deserves to be punished…however, her acquittal does little to create a ‘where’s the justice’ bone in my body. Caylee will be forgotten soon enough, just like Jon Benét Ramsey or Natalee Holloway. Doomed to be brought up in a Trivial Pursuit game like Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
I’m not being cold, I’m just being truthful. I care that a little girl was murdered, I just don’t care about the internet sensation that it has become. Be honest, do you even remember the people I listed? Hint to those that don’t, they were all murdered and were covered on TV. But that’s the way it goes isn’t it. Rich, young, white or innocent and your face gets plastered on every CNN special for weeks. Fall into one of the other categories and your probably just going to end up on the Wal-Mart missing wall. Every wonder why they have that wall there in the first place, well providing that you stopped to actually look? It’s placed near areas of convenience, it’s on the way to the bathroom, on the way out the door, places people have to go, in the hopes that someone will glance up from their phone and notice someone they have seen. It’s the same with candy bars and batteries, place them where people will notice them and hope that our natural laziness is overridden by something shiny for just a moment.
Back to the trial. Casey Anthony was arrested, charged with murder and stood trial by a jury of her peers, who then said not guilty. Sounds like exactly what the justice system was set up for. You may be mad, upset, demanding to see her hung, exterminated like the villainous scum she is but remember that you came to that conclusion from evidence presented to you on TV. You did not see her murder anyone. Your upset because there was enough to lead you to conclude that she murdered Caylee and deserved to be punished. Perhaps if there were 11 other people just like you and you were all on the jury she would have been found guilty. She wasn’t though, one or more of the 12 people on the jury decided after seeing the evidence (some of which you didn’t see) that the state couldn’t prove without a shadow of a doubt that she did it. See that’s how the justice system really works. That’s how America always intended it to. You are arrested and if there is enough evidence charged. Then you face a jury and if the evidence holds up and your found guilty you go to jail. Any less is a lynch mob…or the Salem Witch Trials. The burden of proof has always lay with the people to prove guilt. Remember it’s innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. Remember OJ?
I have a question though. As America stands ready to hang a woman found innocent by a jury of her peers, changes it’s Facebook pictures to Caylee roses and turns on their porch lights in memory of a little lost life, will they think of the other nearly 800,000 children that are currently missing? How about the 3 million children who are abused every year but who’s abusers stopped just short of killing? Will there be roses for them, will the porch lights stay lit after we have turned to the next Nancy Grace special? Be upset about Casey being found not guilty, that’s fine but don’t forget to be upset about the District Attorney and all of his staff, the police, star witnesses and other factors that failed to add up to a conviction. Also be sure to brush up on the Bill of Right’s while your feeling fruity.
That’s what we do best, get caught up in an issue that most of us would never know or care about and none of us will remember only to do nothing about it but wear a pin or ribbon. Take a book called “Go the **** to Sleep” for instance, it’s an adult book written in the children’s book format. The book is written by Adam Mansbach for parent’s frustrated by their children not falling asleep. Initially it was lauded as a sarcastic relief for worn out moms and dads, but soon critics began warning that it was lewd, dangerous to our children and supporting child abuse. Add a few overzealous child psychologists and there are now groups up in arms trying to ban it. Again I ask, where was this fervor when the 13 year old was locked in a dog kennel and beaten to death. Please note that it took me a bit to find the particular story as there were so many stories of children being locked in dog carriers as punishment. If you don’t read the link I posted to the story, the worst part is someone actually called about the abuse and social services found the claims unsubstantiated. There were no lights being lit for Christian.
My whole point is, it’s fine to be upset that an innocent girl was murdered, it’s perfectly OK to hope that her killer is brought to justice, but maybe we can save a little of our tenacity for justice for those that need it now. Let’s let books like “Go the **** to Sleep” be a reminder as the critics say, that there are so many children that wish someone would read any book to them. Let it remind us that 5 children a day die from abuse and neglect. Let it remind us that 3.5 million people are homeless, including 1.35 million children and that 1 billion people have no access to clean water. Let us never forget the suffering that is occurring while we are watching the news about suffering that has occured.
Where are the roses and porch lights for that? Where is the outrage, where is Nancy Grace’s “Justice for the Children” banner? If you think life is fair I’ve got a surprise for you, it’s not. It’s far time we put on our grown up pants and took responsibility. Not ‘I bought a paper balloon at the supermarket so now I support Jerrys Kids responsibility’. The ‘I’m going to take some time out of my life and do something constructive’ type. If you really think that your helping the cause, any cause by clicking “Like” on Facebook then do us all a favor and stay away from sharp objects because your missing the point. I’m not implying that we each have to spend thousands of dollars or countless hours of our time, I know we are busy and have family of our own but it’s time to step up the game to more than a new profile picture or a retweet. Not sure how, talk to your church, Police, Fire or local EMS, maybe even consider joining the Fire or EMS groups or an auxillary. Not sure where to start, anywhere is good, here are some links to help. It’s not enough to run off at the mouth or copy and paste a status, you need to be a participant. Talk without action is hollow and borders on cowardice.
