No One Noticed?

Besides the obvious, there is one thing that keeps nagging at me about what happened in the house of  Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped, abused, and held captive three girls/women for the last ten years.

How is it that NO ONE NOTICED?

I mean, it didn't happen out in the middle of nowhere, where he had the benefit of space between his house and the houses of his neighbors.  No, it happened in the middle of a suburb where the closest neighbors' houses were VERY close.

It didn't happen in the house of a recluse who never showed his face in public.  Castro was a school bus driver...he was a well-known local musician in the Latin music community...his neighbors saw him out-and-about on regular occasions.  In other words, he interacted with lots of people.

How is it that NO ONE NOTICED?

It didn't happen in the house of a man who had no family.  He obviously had two brothers who may, or may not, have been involved in Castro's fiendish deeds.  But the latest news reports make it seem that they were probably not a part of what went on there.

He had two grown children, a daughter and a son...one of whom was a "good friend" of one of the
girls who was abducted, and the other wrote an "investigative paper" on the case as a student in college.

I suspect he had other, extended family members as well, nieces, nephews, cousins, and the like, some of whom probably lived nearby.

How is it that NO ONE NOTICED?

It didn't happen recently, either.  These women had been held against their wills for years...and years...and years.  Ten years or more. 

In all that time, there wasn't the slightest hint that something bad was going on?  Not one muffled scream heard?  Not one weird-looking activity in the backyard.  Not one suspicion when Castro never allowed anyone through the front door? 

How is it that, in all of those years, NO ONE NOTICED?

For now, we have to give them all the benefit of the doubt...the neighbors, the co-workers, the musicians who shared a stage with him, the family...

...maybe Castro was just that diabolical, just that good at covering his tracks.  Maybe there really was no hint of what was going on in that house at any time for anyone to pick up on.

Until one neighbor happened to be outside at just the right time, eating his McDonald's, and not only heard and saw something wrong, but ACTED in response to it.  And, in the process, finally brought an end to the nightmare in the house on Seymour Street in Cleveland.

We celebrate their rescue, and their rescuer.

We condemn the criminal.

But I think we also have to ask ourselves...

...would I have noticed?

I have a new prayer for today:

"Lord, give me eyes and ears to hear and see evil when it is close to me,
and courage to confront it.  Amen."