Neighbors

It’s rare to have a happy ending to a story like Amanda Berry’s. You heard about her, right? The girl who’s been missing for a decade and was recently rescued by Charles Ramsey, the neighbor of her kidnapper… And I’m sure you've seen the video of Ramsey’s interview, it’s viral beyond viral and offers more than the superficial laughs from his unintentional one-liners like, "I barbecue with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music." Look beyond the delivery of Ramsey’s statements to the words what they mean. They were neighbors for a year and not Ramsey, or any of their other neighbors had a clue that three missing women and a child had been captive on their street. It makes me wonder, how well do we know our neighbors?

Do you know who lives next door to you? Across the hall? Down the street? The people in this neighborhood thought they did -- they socialized with Ariel Castro, they let him take their children to the park, they ate with him and did other normal, neighborly things with him. He even helped look for one of the girls who he abducted, and consoled her family! The whole time, he had the three women and a child hostage in his house.

I remember when Erika's family was found dead. They found her remains with those of her twin sister. I remember Sarah's shock when learning Ericka had a sister that Sarah never knew about. Erika was Sarah's best friend before me -- how do you not know your best friend has a twin sister? Things aren't always what they seem.

I'm glad that the families of Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina Dejesus have their daughters, sisters and granddaughters home. As hard as it will be to uncover the truth of what happened to them during their captivity, it will allow them all to begin to heal. I wish Sarah could have that. I wish we knew what happened to her and I wonder if we'll ever know what really happened so many years ago to Ericka, Owen, Jackie & Sarah's family. Until we find Sarah, none of us can ever really begin to heal. We don't have a lot of clues, but Sarah leaves us breadcrumbs from time to time. Between the sightings and her diary, there are clues. I still can't believe people don't believe me... how can you not believe when there's so much evidence?

The truth is revealed when we look beneath the surface. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't assume what you see is all there is.