Kindness of Strangers
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Kindness of Strangers
by jean Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:14 am
Hi Pedro - Read this last night on Vee's site after your post. Thought I would put it on here because it is so heart wrenching, and everyone ought to read it.
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
From the moment that Madeleine McCann went missing on 3rd May 2007 her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have had to completely and utterly rely on the kindness of strangers.
Evidence now shows that the Portuguese police spent precious little time searching for a missing little girl and considerably more time searching for evidence to implicate her parents in her murder. They have failed miserably on both counts and left many parents world-wide wondering if Portugal is indeed the family holiday haven we previously believed it was.
From that first desperate plea made by Madeleine’s family on early morning television, our hearts went out to the little lost girl and her family. We watched and prayed as news reports updated us of the continuing search, new leads, new theories and new suspects. All of which came to nothing.
As donations started flooding in, an official fund was set up. More and more of us contributed, in the desperate hope that the amount that we donated could actually make that little bit of difference, could actually mean that Madeleine was finally found. And although raising money and donating to the fund is essential to help the continuing search for Madeleine, sadly there isn’t a magic number that will bring Madeleine home.
We held our own children tightly and watched in disbelief as Madeleine’s parents were made arguidos and we wept as we watched Kate’s lonely walks along the beach, clutching her daughter’s precious Cuddle Cat.
Finally, as they arrived back in England and stepped off the plane without their beloved eldest daughter, our throats burned with sadness as we listened to Gerry’s heart-rending pleas to the world to help them find their lovely little girl.
It has been an emotional rollercoaster for all of us following the case but for none more so than Kate and Gerry McCann. Their misjudged decision to leave their children in the hotel room that night has changed their world forever, and in turn it has changed all our worlds. Who now would even consider leaving a child unattended, even for five minutes? I am now more suspicious of strangers and far more vigilant with my children than I ever was before Madeleine went missing. My children will never have the freedom to play out of my view, even in the garden or in the street, the way I did when I was their age. I wouldn’t dream of letting them go for bike rides to the park without me or their father, or letting them run errands to the shop or to the letterbox without me. All freedoms and adventures that my younger brother and I experienced and relished in our childhoods and all so very much part of growing up and learning to be independent.
A generation of mothers will now hold their children closer far longer than we probably should and we make no excuse or apology for this. It is quite simply because anything could happen, anyone could be out there and I would far rather my children tell me I am mean and unfair to them, than the unthinkable happen and they not be around to tell me at all.
How Kate and Gerry have coped is beyond me. I am certain I would have died from the pain and grief they undoubtedly feel. But it is in the complete and utter belief that if they work hard enough to find her, if they do enough to make up for that mistake and keep on searching for her, then one day Madeleine will be home again. Madeleine’s parents have to believe this. Not to believe it, to give up hoping and trying would be to give up on their daughter and no parent could ever contemplate doing that.
However, Kate and Gerry are very well aware that it is almost impossible that they will be the ones to spot their missing daughter in a crowd, or find the vital clue that brings their daughter home. With no police force in the world out there actively looking for Madeleine her parents have to both rely on and have complete faith in the kindness of strangers. This is why they must keep Madeleine’s beautiful little face and her heartbreaking story in the forefront of our minds. All hope really will be lost if we forget about Madeleine.
Recently, while attending to my four year old daughter in a toyshop, my two year old daughter took the opportunity of pushing the doll’s pram she was playing with the full length of the shop, out of the shop door and down a busy road. Now I accept that she was completely and utterly my responsibility but not one person stopped her on her little adventure. In this age of false accusations, not one person stopped my little girl as she pushed the pram through the shoppers and along the pavement. Yet as I ran after her I saw people look at her, turn and nudge each other but not one bent down to ask where her mummy was. Would they have stopped her if she had tried to cross the road? I really don’t know. Sadly, this is exactly what the McCanns are up against. People just don’t want to risk getting involved or making a scene. Why else would there have been so many ‘sightings’ of Madeleine where action was not taken immediately?
Mr and Mrs McCann now have to pray that a stranger, who sees a little girl a lot like Madeleine, doesn’t just stare, wonder, walk away and recount their story to friends and family several days later, but that they do the right thing. That they call the police and hotline number immediately, whilst they have the child in their sights.
They have to pray that a stranger, suspicious of a neighbour or odd behaviour, reports this immediately, rather than years later when it could be too late.
Better a well meaning mistake than a lost opportunity to reunite a family and rebuild a little girl’s life.
Somebody out there knows exactly what has happened to Madeleine McCann and the likelihood is that more than one person knows where she is now. It is going to take a very brave, decent individual to break a trust and pass on the details of a secret, but that person could end this nightmare for Madeleine and her family in one short telephone call.
Recently, I met Kate McCann for the very first time. She looks very different to the tanned, healthy young woman we saw in those first reports from Portugal. She is extremely thin, tired and understandably carries an enormous sadness in her eyes. She held herself with gracefulness and poise but she is without doubt a woman who is incomplete.
As we said goodbye I wished her well in the search for her daughter and I am ashamed to say that in my sadness for her situation and the knowledge that it could so easily be me, I filled up with tears. This thoroughly decent and kind woman, who has lost so much, put her arms around me and comforted me. How could I possibly understand what she has gone through, is still going through and will continue to go through until her daughter is back home? Losing my daughter for a few moments in a busy town centre is just a nasty taste of what she has endured every single day for almost four years. Yet she was kind enough to comfort me.
How can we not wish the McCanns well in their search? How can we not feel that it is all of our responsibilities as fellow human beings to do what we can to help them find their daughter? We have all made mistakes with our children, we wouldn’t be human if we hadn’t, but few of us with such life changing and terrible results.
If I walked in Kate McCann’s heavy shoes, I would beg every family member, friend, neighbour and stranger to help me in any small way they could and in my utter desperation I wouldn’t stop asking and asking until my daughter was home. We shouldn’t turn away because the McCanns keep asking for help and reminding us of our own fears. A million people on the lookout are so much better than two. They need our help and they need our basic human kindness to understand and empathise with their nightmare ordeal.
I defy anyone to say that they would behave any differently. In their shoes, each and every one of us would rely on the kindness of strangers.
PDA
THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
From the moment that Madeleine McCann went missing on 3rd May 2007 her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have had to completely and utterly rely on the kindness of strangers.
Evidence now shows that the Portuguese police spent precious little time searching for a missing little girl and considerably more time searching for evidence to implicate her parents in her murder. They have failed miserably on both counts and left many parents world-wide wondering if Portugal is indeed the family holiday haven we previously believed it was.
From that first desperate plea made by Madeleine’s family on early morning television, our hearts went out to the little lost girl and her family. We watched and prayed as news reports updated us of the continuing search, new leads, new theories and new suspects. All of which came to nothing.
As donations started flooding in, an official fund was set up. More and more of us contributed, in the desperate hope that the amount that we donated could actually make that little bit of difference, could actually mean that Madeleine was finally found. And although raising money and donating to the fund is essential to help the continuing search for Madeleine, sadly there isn’t a magic number that will bring Madeleine home.
We held our own children tightly and watched in disbelief as Madeleine’s parents were made arguidos and we wept as we watched Kate’s lonely walks along the beach, clutching her daughter’s precious Cuddle Cat.
Finally, as they arrived back in England and stepped off the plane without their beloved eldest daughter, our throats burned with sadness as we listened to Gerry’s heart-rending pleas to the world to help them find their lovely little girl.
It has been an emotional rollercoaster for all of us following the case but for none more so than Kate and Gerry McCann. Their misjudged decision to leave their children in the hotel room that night has changed their world forever, and in turn it has changed all our worlds. Who now would even consider leaving a child unattended, even for five minutes? I am now more suspicious of strangers and far more vigilant with my children than I ever was before Madeleine went missing. My children will never have the freedom to play out of my view, even in the garden or in the street, the way I did when I was their age. I wouldn’t dream of letting them go for bike rides to the park without me or their father, or letting them run errands to the shop or to the letterbox without me. All freedoms and adventures that my younger brother and I experienced and relished in our childhoods and all so very much part of growing up and learning to be independent.
A generation of mothers will now hold their children closer far longer than we probably should and we make no excuse or apology for this. It is quite simply because anything could happen, anyone could be out there and I would far rather my children tell me I am mean and unfair to them, than the unthinkable happen and they not be around to tell me at all.
How Kate and Gerry have coped is beyond me. I am certain I would have died from the pain and grief they undoubtedly feel. But it is in the complete and utter belief that if they work hard enough to find her, if they do enough to make up for that mistake and keep on searching for her, then one day Madeleine will be home again. Madeleine’s parents have to believe this. Not to believe it, to give up hoping and trying would be to give up on their daughter and no parent could ever contemplate doing that.
However, Kate and Gerry are very well aware that it is almost impossible that they will be the ones to spot their missing daughter in a crowd, or find the vital clue that brings their daughter home. With no police force in the world out there actively looking for Madeleine her parents have to both rely on and have complete faith in the kindness of strangers. This is why they must keep Madeleine’s beautiful little face and her heartbreaking story in the forefront of our minds. All hope really will be lost if we forget about Madeleine.
Recently, while attending to my four year old daughter in a toyshop, my two year old daughter took the opportunity of pushing the doll’s pram she was playing with the full length of the shop, out of the shop door and down a busy road. Now I accept that she was completely and utterly my responsibility but not one person stopped her on her little adventure. In this age of false accusations, not one person stopped my little girl as she pushed the pram through the shoppers and along the pavement. Yet as I ran after her I saw people look at her, turn and nudge each other but not one bent down to ask where her mummy was. Would they have stopped her if she had tried to cross the road? I really don’t know. Sadly, this is exactly what the McCanns are up against. People just don’t want to risk getting involved or making a scene. Why else would there have been so many ‘sightings’ of Madeleine where action was not taken immediately?
Mr and Mrs McCann now have to pray that a stranger, who sees a little girl a lot like Madeleine, doesn’t just stare, wonder, walk away and recount their story to friends and family several days later, but that they do the right thing. That they call the police and hotline number immediately, whilst they have the child in their sights.
They have to pray that a stranger, suspicious of a neighbour or odd behaviour, reports this immediately, rather than years later when it could be too late.
Better a well meaning mistake than a lost opportunity to reunite a family and rebuild a little girl’s life.
Somebody out there knows exactly what has happened to Madeleine McCann and the likelihood is that more than one person knows where she is now. It is going to take a very brave, decent individual to break a trust and pass on the details of a secret, but that person could end this nightmare for Madeleine and her family in one short telephone call.
Recently, I met Kate McCann for the very first time. She looks very different to the tanned, healthy young woman we saw in those first reports from Portugal. She is extremely thin, tired and understandably carries an enormous sadness in her eyes. She held herself with gracefulness and poise but she is without doubt a woman who is incomplete.
As we said goodbye I wished her well in the search for her daughter and I am ashamed to say that in my sadness for her situation and the knowledge that it could so easily be me, I filled up with tears. This thoroughly decent and kind woman, who has lost so much, put her arms around me and comforted me. How could I possibly understand what she has gone through, is still going through and will continue to go through until her daughter is back home? Losing my daughter for a few moments in a busy town centre is just a nasty taste of what she has endured every single day for almost four years. Yet she was kind enough to comfort me.
How can we not wish the McCanns well in their search? How can we not feel that it is all of our responsibilities as fellow human beings to do what we can to help them find their daughter? We have all made mistakes with our children, we wouldn’t be human if we hadn’t, but few of us with such life changing and terrible results.
If I walked in Kate McCann’s heavy shoes, I would beg every family member, friend, neighbour and stranger to help me in any small way they could and in my utter desperation I wouldn’t stop asking and asking until my daughter was home. We shouldn’t turn away because the McCanns keep asking for help and reminding us of our own fears. A million people on the lookout are so much better than two. They need our help and they need our basic human kindness to understand and empathise with their nightmare ordeal.
I defy anyone to say that they would behave any differently. In their shoes, each and every one of us would rely on the kindness of strangers.
PDA
jean- Master
- Number of posts : 474
Location : knutsford cheshire
Registration date : 2008-12-11
Re: Kindness of Strangers
by Pedro Silva Sat Feb 26, 2011 3:32 am
Yes my friend, thank you, also please see this link:
http://madeleine-writingthewrongs.com/2011/02/16/the-kindness-of-strangers/
http://madeleine-writingthewrongs.com/2011/02/16/the-kindness-of-strangers/
Pedro Silva- Grand Member
- Number of posts : 5592
Location : Portugal
Registration date : 2008-10-20
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