I am sure that many of you have heard the story of Jaycee Dugard; the girl who was kidnapped at the age of 11 in front of her home while she was waiting for the bus and has now been found 18 years later. I found this story to be absolutely shocking. This is one of the first cases in history where a kidnapped victim has been returned to her family so many years later. It is also shocking because of the horrible abuse this girl went through while she lived in tents and shacks in the back yard of the home of her captor, Phillip Garrido. Jaycee even bore two children that were fathered by the man who kidnapped and abused her for many years. This is the type of story that makes you cringe and wonder how something so horrible could be taking place in a normal neighborhood, in a house surrounded by so many other families. And that is the part of the story that angers me the most.

 

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago which is very different from the Merrill community I live in now. In Chicago, there are so many people and so many houses right next to one another, and even though you are physically closer to your neighbors then you are in most of the area’s of Merrill, there is much less contact and communication between neighbors. When my parents moved my brother and I from an apartment to a house, over the 10 years that I lived there we knew and interacted with maybe 3 families on the entire city block. It seems that this is pretty similar to the area in California where Jaycee was being held by her captor. Now I will be honest, when I moved to Merrill I found it to be a little strange how people in this community know one another and how neighbors watch out for neighbors because I had never lived in a small community. I assumed most people were “nosy neighbors”, just looking to find out the latest gossip on those that lived around them. Over time I came to realize that yes, some people may be nosy, but most really care about the people that surround them and what is happening in the community where they live and raise their children. 

 

And that is why this story of Jaycee Dugar really upset me. Her captor was on parole for being a registered sex offender, and several neighbors have come forward and said that they had heard or seen children playing in the yard. So WHY would no one tell the police about this? The government has made it our right to know about sex offenders living in our communities, and I personally exercise that right since I have a small child. I believe it is important to know about the people who are living around you and your family. Garrido’s neighbors knew that he had no children, as did his parole officer, and no one found it suspicious or strange that there were children’s voices coming from the hidden areas of his yard? This poor girl lived in tents and sheds in this man’s back yard for 18 years – How in 18 years did no one noticed this? Over the time that I have lived in Merrill, I have become more appreciative of the small community we live in and the way people in our community are concerned about those that live around them. I think that more people in larger cities should work on being less self involved and pay more attention to what is going on in their community because maybe then a tragedy like this could be avoided. After hearing a story such as this, I am grateful for “nosy neighbors” and I will be working at being more of a “nosy neighbor” as well.