If and when change is for the better, then change it should be.

Reading the courttv.com cases Hidden Traces has made me begin to think about our society in a new light. But it isn't just our society, is it? The whole world has changed and not all of the changes are positive. Fast-growing world population puts an immense strain on every society, and these, consequently, are harder to police than ever. I remember in my childhood the now-quaint images of a police officer lying in wait for some over-confident speeder or another officer watching some intersection so that an unwary stop-sign runner could be ticketed. Time on one's hands. Now we read of all sorts of financial tricks inside and outside of banks and corporations that result in robbing many citizens of thousands of hard-earned dollars each year and of the perpetrators' continued freedom, literally, as well as freedom from any danger of a prosecution. There isn't enough time, money, or manpower is the excuse.
So, now we are given all sorts of sophisticated precautions to take as regards our personal and private papers and/or documents. The old traditionalists and conservatives say all these perpetrators should be locked up, most definitely. But see, that's another contemporary problem. Locked up where? For how long? Sorry old kiddos, but there ain't enough cells, enough prisons, or jails to hold all those bad guys. Folks think we have it bad at home, they should see the "developing world" first-hand as I do.

Okay, let's look at the Jacqueline Levitz case. In the first place, no woman who is worth 5 to 8 million dollars has any business "camping out" alone in a home she is having remodeled. You see, we are a society that is over-confident. We've been accustomed from years past to too much independence. Levitz was certainly brave, if a bit foolhardy. Anyway, in the end, money or passion is usually involved. Even if Levitz's only son was oh so many miles away, it doesn't mean he could never have been involved. As we have seen repeatedly, anyone can hire anyone, actually.

The Search for Jacob(Wetterling). This is truly a sad case. Sadder than Levitz's. It now teaches us that no matter how small the town or how short the hop, skip, and jump, we cannot cannot cannot trust our kids with anyone nor trust their venturing out alone(unaccompanied by adults). We must run in packs like wolves. Inconvenient yes, but absolutely necessary.

The Linda Yalem murder: another sad case. Not unlike Chandra Levy's in DC or Julie Love's in Atlanta or Carole Adele's and Joann Zulauf's in Washington state and on and on. (!) Don't jog alone. Don't ride bikes alone and don't drive so much alone. It isn't that hard to find a mate who'll exercise/ride with you. We just aren't accustomed to it. We're highly individualistic. But look at the price. Look how high it has been for the unfortunate families of these victims. The change must come about NOW as we are raising our kids. Let's raise them to be individualistic in areas in which it is safe to be so, but let's raise them to run and ride and drive with the pack--literally! Let's save lives in the process. Thanks for reading.