AMBER ALERT

 Sunday night at approximately 1:15 am 

my emergency sound went off on my phone.

Boo was here for the night and we were both asleep.

When that warning sound went off we both 

immediately rolled to opposite sides of the bed

to check the message.

There we had both just received the Amber Alert

with the description of the car, etc.

We both said aloud,

" Amber Alert" as we read the text.

We then both settled down and I could not sleep.

My thoughts wondered to the poor child

that was not safely in her bed on this early Sunday am.

I worried about the parents, family who must be so afraid.

I decided prayers were in order and so I said a prayer

for the child, the parents, I even said one for the 

perpetrator to return the child close to home unharmed.

Too many times these do not end up in the way

they should. Prayers went out for the very best outcome,

a rescue. Two trash pickup drivers had also got

the Amber Alert and when they saw a car parked in the

field, they remembered that alert and possibly 

have saved that child's life.

Happy ending, prayers answered, hero's in the making.

Yet my story is not finished.

I was shocked to find and also hear boo speak of all

the facebook complainers saying things like

"Darn Amber Alet"

"I had just got to sleep when that Amber Alert woke me up"

"Why do they wait until 1:00am to send those amber alerts"

So many complaints.

Yes, there were probably just as many that felt like me,

but just the fact that someone would be disturbed by being

notified of a missing child, no matter what time, unnerves me.

My thoughts were, "hmmm if it were your child..."

Come on "Karen's"

this is a life, this is a child, have we become so used to 

things that we can't see an emergency from a political text.

I will end with this.

The next time you are hit with an Amber alert,

remember how serious this is. Remember that very few 

children abducted make it home safe.

When they do make it safe, rarely are they the same child

that they were before the abduction.

Remember the reason for the Amber Alert,

the poor child and her family that the project was named after.

Say a prayer, if you don't pray, take a minute to send good thoughts

to all involved. Pay attention to the details as this man who

found the child was aware that the car that had been explained

in the alert was similar to the one he saw.

Let us not become a society that is so filled with mundane things

that we don't take these alerts seriously.

This child now safely sleeps in her own bed, with 

her loving family surrounding her. 

She is safe once again.

Not all are so lucky.

in memory of:

AMBER HAGERMAN

11/25/86-1/17/96

RIP