That Missing British Toddler

I caught a small blurb the other day in USA Today that has since taken on huge proportions. It’s sad, it’s tragic, and it’s a damned shame. Everyone who can do so is searching all over Portugal for missing 4-year old Madeleine McCann, who was seemingly abducted from her hotel room. When she went missing she was 3; her 4th birthday was over the weekend.

I have serious problems with the circumstances surrounding this child’s disappearance. The kid was napping in the hotel room…..while the parents were across the courtyard eating. I dunno how you guys raise your kids, but I don’t even like to leave my dog alone for too long, let alone a kid. Who in their right fucking mind leaves a 3-year-old alone and asleep in a strange hotel in a foreign country? Never mind that they were only 150 feet away. To exacerbate the situation, also in the room were her twin siblings, whom I believe are less than 2 years old. So, who in their right fucking mind leaves THREE babies alone in a strange hotel room in a foreign country?

The family was on vacation from England, where the parents are doctors. Yeah, you read that right…DOCTORS, obviously college-educated and assumedly brighter than a Christmas tree bulb. Remind me to NEVER get sick while in England. This is the sort of shit they do on the Jerry Springer show….”Well, Jerry, I was over smokin’ meth in my neighbor’s trailer when little Cletus done camed up gone-like…” but you would somehow think a doctor, no…TWO doctors….would be a tad less likely to make a fuckup of this magnitude.

But why take just the one kid? Why not steal all three? Or why not steal the smaller ones, as they are easier to transport and can’t talk in a cute little British toddler accent and scream “I want me Mummy!!!” as you make your escape. Authorities are looking for a German man and a Polish woman, neither of whom ostensibly would be carting around a screaming British child. Non-talkative infants would seem easier to sell or pass of as your own.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the parents feel all bloody horrid over this whole affair, yadda yadda yadda…..hell, I’d be embarrassed too. They may as well have held up a sign that said “STEAL MY CHILD/ROUBE MEU BEBE”. And of course, media attention is just insane over this and the reward money/celebrity involvement just adds to the circus. Harry Potter author JK Rowling has donated money, and soccer uber-star David Beckham has gotten involved. By the end of the week there’ll be a telethon and a benefit concert at Wembley Stadium.

I don’t mean to sound cavalier over the disappearance of this child. I sincerely hope she returns safely to her family. I do, however, intend fully to lambaste the parents for allowing the situation to come up in the first place, and I intend to question the motives of the media circus that is setting up its tents and publicly crucify those who seek to profit from it.