May 13, 2009

"Either Etan was taken by a stranger and killed..."

"... or he was taken by a very sad woman desperate for a child of her own, and we hoped that such a woman would at least take care of him and keep him safe."

15 comments:

JAL said...

There is a depth of sadness here that is hard to imagine without tears 30 years later.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Indeed, JAL.

I hope that wherever Etan is, he is at least at peace.

And may God have mercy on Jose Ramos's shreds of a soul...

bearbee said...

Sad, sad, sad.

******

Why the Obama-Bush tag?

john said...

Allright .....

Obama is like Bush? Well, each, I'm sure, had a good alibi that day.

Ann Althouse said...

Sorry, I was trying to add that tag to the previous post...

Fixed.

goesh said...

Why the Obama-Bush tag? Obama is going to become a lost, political war orphan like Bush, never to really come home to the nice and comfy pages of history, his legacy never to really be accepted and defined, a waif of history, neither completely lost nor found. He beats a hardy war drum in Afghanistan but time, the poppy and the terrain are on the side of the Taliban - a waif he will be, never to be found and loved, alone in the Khyber pass.

KCFleming said...

Jose Ramos was quite literally a troll under the bridge, trying to ensare children who wandered.

The ancient mythology was true. I am beginning to suspect that the adults knew exactly what was transpiring, but told a story of another kind of monster in order to frighten children.

AllenS said...

You do not waterboard a person like Jose Ramos. You torture him. Every hour of every day.

Bissage said...

Pogo is quite right, beat me to it, and said it better.

This sad story and Pogo’s comment made me think of a masterpiece of a movie about how we manage to live among one another in this horrible, horrible world full of unspeakable human depravity. Link.

former law student said...

Parents keep much closer tabs on their kids now than pre-milk carton times. Even over the past ten years, kids that would have walked to my neighborhood school are now driven to the door. The number of crossing guards and patrol girls/boys has dropped in consequence, as parental traffic clogs the once sleepy neighborhood.

Bissage said...

BTW, I should add I disagree with the wiki characterization. "The Virgin Spring" is not a revenge flick. It is about how goodness can win over evil. I very much recommend it.

KCFleming said...

Thanks for the movie tip, Bissage. In the queue.

Bissage said...

Good. You won't regret it. I promise.

Eli Blake said...

Sadly, he is only one of many kids who have disappeared and never been found.

I doubt that it is a woman who was desperate for a child because they almost always go for a newborn (in some cases even to the extent of murdering very pregnant women and cutting their fetus out with a key.)

Anthony said...

I was 11 and living on Long Isalnd when the case occured. I remember my parents and all the neighborhood parents forbid us to walk to school for a while after that.

Compare that with the fact that my father would take the trolley alone to go to Ebbets Field alone as a 7 year old during the summer of 1941.