The case of a lost Chandra Levy stubbornly refuses to fade from the news. The
day this “On Second Thought” is written, Congressman Gary Condit is
scheduled to be interviewed by Connie Chung this evening. We could hope enough
questions will be answered
The case of a lost Chandra Levy stubbornly refuses to fade from the news. The
day this “On Second Thought” is written, Congressman Gary Condit is
scheduled to be interviewed by Connie Chung this evening. We could hope enough
questions will be answered at least to stop the cable-news-programs-turned-
tabloids-of-the-airways from rehashing the situation 10 hours every day. That
likely will not happen. Newspapers, magazines and broadcast programs will still
manage to have every self-professed expert in any field discuss all they do
not know and a smidgen of what they do know about anything even remotely related
to the case.
One thing we have seen – we have seen an unrelenting search for Ms. Levy.
The glaring searchlights of the media and public attention drove Washington,
D.C. police and then the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to use every means
possible to find either the living Ms. Levy or her dead body. While law enforcement
has halted urgent physical searches, other kinds of searches for any clue as
to her whereabouts are ongoing.
The most harsh criticisms of Congressman Condit from most corners come because
he was not initially forthcoming with full information about his relationship
with Ms. Levy. That might have given Washington, D.C. police and the FBI a spark
of information that might have helped them solve the case early on. While some
have tried to play down Congressman Condits marital unfaithfulness, even
the most amoral have criticized him for not doing everything within his power
to help find Chandra Levy.
Ms. Levys lostness has sparked attention to many other lost people in
our society. The August 13 issue of U.S. News and World Report dedicated its
cover to “Missing: How Police Crack Their Toughest Cases.” The inside
cover story was, “Lost and Found.” The article overviews intense efforts
law enforcement exerts to find missing people.
The lead paragraph of the story reads, “When cultural anthropologists
finally begin sifting through the sands of the summer of 2001, they may easily
conclude that this was a nation riven by a plague of missing persons.”
Then, “They will find that her (Chandra Levy) plight heightened the urgency
in other fresh cases and even renewed interest in those detectives had long
considered dormant.”
Five full following pages of the magazine present the tragedy of missing children
and adults. Last year, 876,213 persons were reported missing by police to the
FBIs National Crime Information Center.
There is something chilling about a lost child, or a lost adult. The uncertainty
of the persons condition – ones inability to help, to reach
out, to know.
And, the article says, “As time passes, the odds of finding someone dwindle.”
Dr. and Mrs. Levy, Chandras parents, strive valiantly to keep before
the nation their daughters lostness, hoping beyond hope she will be discovered
– hopefully alive, but even if dead.
Missing. Lost. It is no happenstance that when Jesus talked
about seeking people who do not have saving relationships
with him, he drew parables of the missing – the lost. Jesus formed the
parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep, but above them, he painted the
parable of the lost son.
One must struggle to read U.S. News accounts of missing children and
adults. The pain, the agonizing waits, the false hopes, the dashed hopes. In
the midst of these third-person accounts, the possibilities of a first-person
experience send shudders down ones arms and spine.
Missing. Lost. Jesus says people without a saving faith in him are missing,
lost. For eternity.
If we believe the parables of the lost coin, lost sheep and lost son, where
is our urgency, our concern?