The title of this post sounds like the plot or title from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, unfortunately, however, that is sadly not the case. I write this post today in light of a senseless tragedy that took place over the weekend in Wisconsin involving three 12 year old girls. According to the news articles I've read about this case two of the 12 year old girls had planned to kill their friend, also 12, by stabbing her to death during a sleep over at one of the girls houses but then changed the plan and instead brought her to a wooded park area and took turns stabbing her there all because of a popular creepy pasta character named slender man. The two girls who were arrested both seemed to feel or acknowledge some degree of remorse for what they had done, with one stating that neither could go through with the act at first and then one of the girls saying that part of her wanted her friend to live. The 12 year old victim thankfully survived and is, at last news update, in stable condition.
I only know about the slender man stories and the creepy pastas because my very creative daughter, Skylar and her friends, love to read all of the creepy pastas, including the ones about slender man.
I find nothing wrong with the creepy pastas myself as they are creative and no worse than kids telling scary stories at a slumber party. One of the guys who hosts a creepy pasta website had said in a written statement on his site that he started his site for writers so that they may improve their writing techniques and styles. He then noticed that not only were young adults enjoying the stories posted but also teens, so he used his website to also help teens become interested in reading and help them to improve upon their writing skills as well by allowing them to send him stories they had written themselves and would critique them giving helpful hints encouraging them to improve and only posting certain ones to the site.
Being that he knew that the creepy pastas may not have some parents approval, whether due to story content or character portrayal and violence, he writes in his statement that he had gladly helped many parents to block his website from their children, when a parent would email him on how to do so.
I mention all of this because the media and the general public, including the two 12 year old girls who committed this heinous act of violence toward their friend, are all looking for someone to blame and unfortunately in this case the blame will not fall entirely on the two girls, nor their parents, but sadly on fictional stories about very fictional characters and events.
As history has shown us time and time again, when there is no one to actually place blame upon due to our fear as parents to say hey, maybe I was a bad parent, or maybe I really should have been paying more attention to what my child was doing or who they were talking to, or I should've been more vigilant and then I would have noticed odd behavioral patterns in my child. Or us as a society that can't be accountable for what is taking place in our country and to admit that we as a society have failed our children in more ways than we can count, or even to place blame upon a child for what atrocities they may have committed because it is too unbearable to think that someone so young could be so cruel and ruthless, and never ever admitting to ourselves that their innocence has been replaced with cruelness because of what we as a society have taught them. We place the blame squarely on the shoulders of inanimate objects, guns for example, someone's ideas, whether in movies or music, or the creative scribbling's of an imaginative mind. Simply because we cannot face our inner demons and admit that maybe, just maybe we as a society are to blame.
As a mother, I take great pride in my child. I strive as any good parent would to push her in the right direction both in school and in life. I let her be her own person and even though we may not always see eye to eye on everything, I at least know that I've instilled within her good moral and family values, to be a strong person, free thinker, a good friend, and to accept other people for their differences, and to stand up for her peers that may not be strong enough to stand up for themselves. I have never really had to worry about what Skylar reads or what she looks at online, or even who she talks to or hangs around. I give Skylar the trust that she earns. I have never had any false pretenses about Skylar making mistakes, because everyone makes mistakes everyday. I also never had to worry about her not knowing the difference between fantasy and reality.
I am not a perfect parent by any means, nor is Skylar the perfect child...... not even close. Skylar and I have come to the comfortable understanding that both of us are still learning. I'm still learning how to be a good parent, even though she's 14, and I still have a lot of learning to do as each day is different and I never know what is going to come out of that child's mouth at any given moment or what she may get herself into, and Skylar is still learning about the harsh realities and great pleasures of life. How to become her own person and learning who she is and who she wants to be.
Here at Sweeney's Farms and Orchards, lovingly referred to as simply "the farm", our hearts and prayers go out to the family of the courageous 12 year old victim, the victim herself who has a very strong will to live and a guardian angel protecting her. Our Hearts and prayers also go out to the families of the two girls who committed this horrible act as I'm sure this is not easy for them to have to go through and live with. Prayers also go out to the two girls who committed this crime in hopes that they will fully understand the error of their ways.
I would like to take this time to remind everyone to spend more time with their children and pay better attention to what goes on in their child's lives. What happened to these three girls was a very preventable and horrific tragedy.
It is not for us to find and place blame where there is no fault.
