Rescue

I turned on my TV this morning to the National News, because the local channels don't work in my room. The first news story of the day was good news. 3 fishermen were rescued after 8 days at sea. (title link). The next story was about Jaycee Dugard who's story is all over the news right now. I first read about her story two hours after she walked into the police station with her captors. So this, too, is a story of rescue and therefore good news.

I'm having a difficult time feeling happy about either rescue, however, because before their rescue was the harrowing ordeal that all of those who were rescued had to endure. I'm hungry when I haven't eaten in a day, and thirsty after a few hours without water. I can't imagine what it felt like to cling to a boat for days and days, unsure whether they would be rescued or not. What did they do to make the days pass? How did they sleep without falling off the boat? Were they afraid of sharks or anything else in the water? Were they cold?

And Jaycee...wow. I did the math; she had her first child at 14, her second child at 18. I can't figure how there weren't more, considering the stories emerging from the investigation. How terrified was she those first couple of years, or before her brain switched into the surrender/survival mode...how awful did she feel when she started her first period, and her mom wasn't there? I'm just sick about the whole thing. Her daughters...that man is their father...and they're completely brainwashed by his psycho religious babble (he claimed to be able to hear and talk to God, and had adjusted one of his speaker boxes to hear God better) I can't imagine what they are going to go through over this next stage of their lives. I hope that God takes special care of them.

Rescue is a bittersweet thing; the rescuers are heroes - true heroes...but it just hurts to think of what those who were rescued had to endure before that miraculous moment of their lives. Thank God for those who saved them, and those who surround them and love them and teach them to deal with their tragedy.