HEADLINE REACTIONS

As a mom I just couldn't ignore two desperate, family news stories in this mid-October week.

The first story began the second day of the week. A Floridian mom did what all mommies do: feed her children, comb their little ones’ bangs in place, and send the loved ones off for school. Then Deina Thompson went off to work as all caring moms do, either at home or at a workplace.

But when one child did not make it home from school, Thompson cried for help. Holding onto the missing twin’s sibling, Thompson contacted the authorities. Because of AMBER Alert, lobbied into law by caring dads Ed Smart and John Walsh, Thompson’s story spread nationwide. Three days later, authorities found the missing seven-year-old. The nation showered the grieving family with prayers, toy bears, and sympathetic condolences.

As this family tragedy concludes, another family tragedy drags on. News archives note this tragedy began the second day of 2009. It would have ended October 22, 2009. But a mistrial was declared in the extortion trial in the Bahamas concerning the death of actor John Travolta’s son, Jett.

My mind ignobly ignores the names of the ambulance driver and the lawyer/politician alleged in the extortion case. I do linger over these details from the Associated Press release:

“Jurors were still deliberating when [a lawmaker] told an audience at a Progressive Liberal Party Convention that [the resigned politician] was a ‘free woman.’ . . . [He] had misspoken . . . But the judge said that [his] comment gave her no choice but to dismiss the jurors.”

As of this writing no date has been set for a new trial.

I type these comments fiercely as a mom of a special needs son. For this extortion trial involves a mom and dad of a special needs child, an autistic son whose life yielded to severe seizures. This mom knows such seizures. She’s cried in ambulances, paced hospital floors. Emotions and raw adrenaline overwhelm a compassionate parent in crisis, doesn’t matter whether that parent is a public or private person. When it’s your child, you fix on your child, not on paper dots or details.

Caring parent rejoice when their child survives. Parents grieve when surviving hope ends in tragedy.

Mourning needs space and time. Time and space are not the celebrity norm. Money serving usurpers often invade the private moments in celebrity lives. For John Travolta and Kelly Preston, mammon usurpers invaded grief’s sacred sanctum with alleged extortions based on hurried dots and details. Thursday’s political mistrial unravels grief’s closure.

As a curious society, we ought to examine how we react to publicized tragedies. If led, send cards, flowers, toys, or donations. In all manners we should respect the privacy of grieving families by allowing them time and space. For those who pray fervently, pray for the family.


“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
---Psalm 103:13(niv)