As a father of an amazing 2 1/2 year old, I of course got chills and became quite upset when news of Casey Anthony and the loss of her young child broke. It always disheartens me to hear of anything happen to children; they are the most innocent amongst us and a gift from our Maker. We should cherish these precious gifts of life and too often these gifts go unappreciated, unattended, unwanted, ... The greater shame of it is the countless people who want nothing more than a child in their life and nature decided that is was not to be.
But I digress. The father in me can react in shock to the "not guilty" verdict handed down to young Ms. Anthony. I mean, come on, SHE. DID. IT. Look how long it took her to report her OWN DAUGHTER missing. Who gets a tattoo if they are worried sick because there child is not right there beside them? And who googles chloroform? That's not an everyday term. It's almost like searching for "napalm". Why would anyone want to do such a thing other than to put what they are looking for to use? In the court of public opinion, Casey Anthony is guilty beyond any measure of doubt.
The great thing about our society, and that men and women still fight for to protect, is "innocent until proven guilty." Herein lies the rub. I honestly think that if you sat each juror down, their verdict was more of a rebuke and rejection of the state meeting that high burden of "beyond a reasonable doubt". They did find her guilty of lying to authorities. They also, in the same breath and in taking their job assigned very seriously, could not say the state proved that Casey murdered her own daughter.
So who is to blame? My armchair quarterbacking would lay the blame at the prosecutor's office and investigators who saw a high profile case already in the news; and rushed to the courtroom before leaving no stone unturned and not one bit of wiggle room for defense. They had their reasons and hindsight always sees the past better than when you are experiencing the difficulty in the present.
At the end of the day, the yelling, talking heads, crying, and even elation for the defense team and Casey; all their combined energy will not bring that little girl back to life. Her loss will remain unanswered for. And my wife and I will hug and kiss our daughter, tell her we love her, and thank God for having her every chance we can.
Perhaps not. I truly believe that even when Casey Anthony is no longer behind bars, she will never have another "free" day. Wherever she goes, there will be eyes upon her. Wherever her parents go, they will have eyes upon them. Can they ever return to the life they had before anything happened? Should they?
The answers to those questions will come along in due course. In the meantime, the rest of us will appreciate the blessings we have.
