SLEEPERS AMONG US
It seems impossible for a person simply to willfully disappear these days.
I can understand how it could have happened in days long gone, before we were encased in a maze of electronic gadgetry and all sorts of equipment which could seek us out wherever we might hide.
Yet, individuals do so, it seems. Criminals escape the confines of prison and wander about the country side for many years without being apprehended even though searches are underway from the start. Other individuals can, it seems, for one reason or another, simply decide to withdraw from society as they know it and start all over again. They do it. They do so apparently with ease, too. How?
I would imagine it would be very difficult to cut of all communications with those you might have known.. You can't just walk out entirely on all that your have known and, perhaps, loved. To leave treasures behind is illogical. In the new locale one is sure to have some qualms and some painful reminders of what has been real before. Is there anyone, I wonder, who has not loved some one in their life ...who could pull up and leave everyone and everything?
If so, he or she must have a flawed character. People who have criminal records can move around the country live in towns and cities and do pretty much what they've been doing before. The recent serial killers in the D.C. Area were shown to have lived in Tacoma,WA, Montgomery, AL and other areas without a lurid past being suspected. Even with hindsight, some former neighbors find it difficult to see them as criminals.
It makes us wonder, doesn't it, who our next door neighbors might have been at one time. And, they might be wondering the same things about you. If a newcomer to town having lived a criminal life elsewhere, how would our recognize that fact?
The lessons we have learned from this sniper case, are, perhaps indicative of a problem we will face in the future. One of the most insidious ways in which our nation might become divided is suggested in the slow evolution of this sniper case.
We are a trusting lot, I suppose. We tend to accept people for what they say they are and actually seem to be. But we can be divided and made suspicious of each other in many ways.
We read and hear about unusual cases but they are rare. Most or us can live close to each other with understanding and compassion, but those who seek to divide us can do so easier than one might think. Special care must be taken to retool the old maxim: ”Love Thy Neighbor.”
Niches of religious variations, racial backgrounds, conditions of birth, comparative wealth, and cultural attainments can all be used – falsely and out -of- context, along with other factors, as means a means of division.
Divided, we can fall.
A.L.M. October 30, 2002 [c500wds]
