I try to live my life being positive. That there is good in people. More in common than separates us. That sort of thing. And I always think that we Canadians are better than others at showing that. A shining example of how to live and accepting of our fellow human beings. Well, the glow has faded a little on our halo and it makes me angry.
Thursday evening an eleven-year-old girl went for dinner with her father. When she didn't return at the set time, her parents no longer live together, her Mom grew concerned. After waiting a bit and receiving a scary phone call, police were notified. At 11:30 at night an Amber Alert went out for this child who everyone feared was in trouble.
Canada has a state of the art emergency system. An alert can be issued over every tv, radio and cell phone across the country, or in a specific area, in times of danger or missing persons. It is implemented when police or emergency services need the public's attention. It isn't used often and it deserves our immediate attention when it is. This is the system police used late Thursday night.
What happened next makes me angry, embarrassed, sad and furious. Over three hundred people, 300, called 911. Not to say "Hey I've seen this child" or "I know where the father is". No, these three hundred people called the emergency number to complain about the fact that the alert went out so late at night!!!!
The complaints included it woke them up, it interrupted their hockey game, it scared them, they own the phone how dare police use it as a tool. Let those comments sink in for a moment. The police were trying to find a child, a child, who they believed was in a very dangerous situation. And people complained about being woken up. Or missing a goal in a hockey game. That tells me every single thing I need to know about them.
In my opinion, I want every single one of those people who called and tied up the emergency operators to be fined. And not a few bucks but a lot. And I want their names released so their peers can know how callous and self-centered they really are. How they lack basic empathy towards their fellow human beings. I want them scorned and shamed.
What have we become when the safety of a child is less important than our sleep? Or our tv or phone? Are we actually at that point? I very much hope not but it seems like some of us are. More than I honestly thought possible.
The little girl was Riya Rajkumar. Her father murdered her. May she rest in peace.
Ang
No comments:
Post a Comment