There is now an episode on “Dateline” on NBC that has been trapping men who have solicited sex with minors, caught on camera as they enter the designated place they were to meet these 13-year-old girls. Some of these men try to lie their way out of the situation, but all are arrested as they attempt to escape the camera and police. None of them have ever been offered an option as to where they need to go or how to escape the eyes of the cameras. They seem to have no place to hide.
These men are from all walks of life. On the latest program a doctor made his way to the designated house expecting to find a 13-year old girl waiting for him. He was confronted, handcuffed and he begged to call his wife to ask her to come post his $30,000 bail. He was allowed to do so.
I am weary of the excuses we are hearing about this as a ploy to interrupt their planned political agendas. In other words, their seats or their desires to have a seat in Congress seem far more important than the seduction of children. We have sunk to the depths of degradation during pre-elections and someone needs to say “enough is enough.”
Today we are being told that those in the know of Mark Foley being a gay man and his desires for young men are saying we must put this behind us and get out on the campaign trails, help elect these “good” men seeking office and keep the country “safe” from Democrats and terrorists.
A young son of mine served as a page in the Georgia session of the Legislature but he encountered no perverts and felt that our state was in good hands. But looking back, there was no sex craze sweeping the state and country, and television programs that were popular were “Howdy Doody,” “Captain Kangaroo” and “American Bandstand.” Morals were still the norm and elected officials were (and many still are) gentlemen. It’s a shame and disgrace that a few bad apples, so to speak, can really spoil the entire barrel.
Far less important, the new trend for young girls who are chosen to model the outrageously expensive clothes of designers, can eat a decent meal and get out of the anorexic condition. These girls, among many other young women who desire to be thin for whatever reason, hide, eat to the point of gluttony, force themselves to up-chuck, and continue to walk the platforms viewed by the rich and famous.
We choose to hide for many reasons. Criminals hide. Thieves hide. Murders hide. Men who beat their wives hide. Perverts hide. Only not all can afford to slip quietly and unobserved into a rehab institution and pretend his worst addition is alcohol. We, as voters, put these men in office. We let others tell us how great they are, how honest they have always been and how we need them enacting laws that apply to all, except them.
I remember a incident that happened a few years ago when a man was caught and convicted of molesting and murdering a young boy, and as he was being tried in a court of law the mother of that young man entered the courtroom, leveled a gun and shot him to death. She is now serving time for her “crime.”
Today’s children, well-cared for or horribly abused, will become tomorrow’s Americans. My grandchildren and great-grandchildren and yours will be among those who will have to make decisions based on the adults they have become. It is up to all family members of every child to show them honesty, teach them right from wrong, instill in them compassion for one another and respect them as individuals.
Mary Sauceman, a resident of LaFayette, writes a weekly column for the Walker County Messenger.
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