Too Civilized?


My articles have been few and far between lately… busy time.

I had written a draft of a column immediately following the discovery of the body of Tori Stafford, a follow-up to my last column (end of May—where does the time go?). I thought I should complete the column, perhaps as a way of getting things rolling again.

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Too Civilized?

Reporters at the time of the discovery of Tori’s body described the situation accurately as one of intense but mixed feelings for the family. I don’t think anyone in the situation of a missing person, particularly a child, abandons all hope until a body is finally found. Despite indications that the child is likely dead, as with a person lost at sea somehow a sliver of hope remains that the impossible happened and somewhere, somehow, the person is alive. Could Victoria be somewhere else– perhaps transferred, sold, whatever, to another person or family, and the indications of her being killed only a story to divert attention? Unlikely, but an anguished family clings to this faint hope. When a body is found and confirmed to be the missing child, that hope, however unreasonable, is extinguished.

The only positive, if one can twist the mind in that direction is, as Tori’s aunt described it, “at least we won’t be spending the rest of our lives watching for her, scanning every crowd, looking in every car that passes.”
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