The Worth of a Child: Missing Children

Does One Child Really Matter?

Natalee Holloway was an 18 year old honor student with a scholarship to the University of Alabama waiting for her when she disappeared on May 30, 2005. She was enjoying the paradise that is Aruba with her senior class when she walked out of a bar one night and into international headlines.

I have been watching this mystery through the eyes of a parent; I have two teenagers. I am easily able to feel a sense of horror, loss, fear and disbelief at that thought of a missing child. We like to believe that we can protect our children from harm. We have to believe that once our children leave our care the teachers, the other parents, the bus drivers, the religious leaders, the law enforcement officials…EVERYBODY is looking out for them. To be able to let our children grow up, to be able to confidently wave goodbye and maybe even tell our children “it will be okay”, we have to let go of our own fears and trust in God and all the other people on the planet.

The sad truth is that all the other people on the planet are not trustworthy. They do not all have the same goals or the same ideas of honesty and they certainly do not all love our children the way we do. I admire Beth Twitty so much. I really do. As Natalee’s mother it was she who kept her face and Natalee’s name in the news, in the headlines, at the water cooler. It was she who kept pressing the Aruba officials to, for God’s sake, do something. She was forced to trust what was being done, that it was being done correctly and that because a judge was involved that it wasn’t “Oh, it’s you, Judge…so sorry to have bothered you. Please, have a donut. You can go.”