Are we really that jaded?

So, as most of you probably know, Shawn Hornbeck, the boy who was abducted at eleven years old and held by a creep by the name of Michael Devlin, was found a couple a couple of weeks ago after being missing for four and a half years.  What is both amazing and nauseating to me is that not only the media, but several bloggers whose blogs I have visited in catching up on information about the case are trying to say that this kid was happy with his circumstances during the time he was missing.  Why?  Because he was seen out without Devlin, riding his bike and hanging with friends.  People find it "odd" that the kid never made any attempt to escape.

Here's the bottom line.  No one knows what this kid went through.  Let's face it, chances are he may have been sexually molested, threatened and abused.  At eleven years old, fear can do something to a child.  If Shawn had been threatened with his life or the life of his family if he made any attempt to escape or contact authorities, he would have obeyed Devlin out of fear. 

Could he have gotten away?  Probably, but I say that as a forty year old who has some life experiences behind me and the ability to think rationally.  As I have an eleven year old son, I can honestly say that there are many days when my son could not think himself out of a paper bag.  Children that age simply do not have the skills to realize that they can safely change their situation and they have a remarkable ability to adapt.  My boys are both adopted, and my oldest lived minimally five different places before coming to live with us.  He adapted to each new circumstance, no matter how uncomfortable it may have been for him, and there were probably no threats involved in any of his situations.  Add threats for his safety and the safety of those he loves and he was going to adapt.  Much like Shawn Hornbeck.  A scared child, who was taken away from his parents, threatened (highly possible) and he simply went into a survival mode and did what he had to do to stay alive.

As a fan of Oprah, I was highly disappointed that Shawn and his parents appeared on her show less than a week after the kid was found.  One of the three adults (Oprah and Shawn's parents) should have had the common sense to say, "Hey, this is not a good idea.  This kid has been through a lot and throwing him in front of cameras is just not going to be good for him mentally or emotionally right now."  Add to that the fact that Oprah asked the parents if they thought he had been sexually molested and they said yes, right there on national television with this poor teenage boy sitting right between them.  I wanted to throw up as I felt so terrible for the kid.  No teenager would want to put that out there for all the world to see as he is trying to come to grips with what happened to him. 

Other media figures are doing similar, horrible things, by stating Shawn was "happy" with his circumstances.  It's sickening.  I know that news coverage is necessary, but so often, they just go too far.  Shawn's story has not yet come out and Devlin isn't discussing the case either, so the need to speculate takes over and it shouldn't.  No one knows what this boy went through over the past four and a half years, and in my opinion, it isn't anyone's business other than his, his parents, and I suppose the lawyers and therapists who are involved.  But let's not start making stuff up because no one is talking yet.  No matter what this kid did or didn't do, the fact remains that he is a child and at the time abducted, a much younger child.  Unless these folks who want to speak negatively about his actions have ever been in that situation, they have no right to speculate.  No one knows what they would do in those circumstances unless they were faced with them directly.

Let's have a little common sense here and instead of critisizing what this child did, let's just rejoice in the fact that he and Ben were found, and that both boys are back home and getting the help that they need.