Am I Being Too Sensitive?

I haven't really listened to ESPN radio personality Colin Cowherd since January, 2006. That was when he cracked that Peace Corps volunteers are losers and declared that life isn't about serving others, but pleasing oneself. It hit me wrong because of all the Peace Corps volunteers I've known through the years. They've been competent, caring people. I thought particularly of a late member of Friendship, the congregation I serve as pastor. Karen was bright, funny, tough, successful, and loving. She was no loser.

So, it'd been a year-and-a-half since I listened to Cowherd. But yesterday, I was returning from Good Samaritan Hospital, where a friend had just undergone surgery. Driving home, I flipped on the radio, and couldn't find anything to which I wanted to listen. I scanned through the stations and came to the faint signal of the ESPN affiliate in Hamilton. Cowherd was on.

I listened for maybe half a minute. That was all I could take.

It could just be me. Cowherd's humor may have been harmless and funny. But I couldn't laugh. So I quickly punched the radio off.

This is what got to me. Cowherd was talking about his kids. Apparently, he spent more time than usual with them over the weekend and the munchkins exhausted him. A few seconds into a rant about the experience, he said something like, "I love kids and stuff. But sometimes the best thing to do is duct tape them and stick them in a closet."

Maybe a year or so ago I would have laughed at that statement. I mean, nobody really would duct tape a kid and stick him in a closet, right? And, in fairness to Cowherd, his crack isn't much different from one attributed to Mark Twain with regard to teenagers. You know the one: "When a child hits the age of fourteen, he should be put in a barrel with a hole in it. At eighteen, the hole should be closed."

These are the sorts of exagerrated remarks that frustrated--but loving--parents have made for centuries.

But you see, last year, in a well-kempt middle class home one-quarter of a mile from where I live, two foster parents, with the assistance of their jointly-experienced live-in lover, wrapped a little boy in duct tape, threw him in a closet, and left him there to die while they went to a family reunion in Kentucky.

Here in the Tri-State area of southwestern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and Indiana, and particularly, here in Clermont County, we've been dealing with the aftermath of Marcus Feisel's death ever since.

The two parents, on the strength of testimony provided by their lover, are now in prison.

The lover, herself the mother of three children, is awaiting extradition to Kentucky on charges of tampering with evidence. Hearings are ongoing to decide what will happen to her kids.

Just yesterday, a hearing began on the state's determination to revoke the license of the Butler County agency that negligently placed Marcus in the hands of the Clermont County couple who killed him.

(By the way, after returning from that reunion and finding Marcus dead in the closet where they'd left him, the foster parents and the lover hatched a plan to burn Marcus' body and make it appear that the boy went missing during a visit to the very park where my wife and I walked last night.)

Because of Marcus' death, our congregation has gotten involved with CASA for Clermont Kids!, an organization that advocates for and serves foster children. Our youth have packed duffel bags with items donated by our church members, which are then given to children taken into foster care. It seems like a good and important thing for us to do in light of the tragedy that so recently happened in our midst.

I didn't laugh at Cowherd's comment. I remember the Sunday I fought off tears as I talked about the tragedy during my sermon.

I turned off the radio and wondered, "Was I being too sensitive?"

Maybe. But I don't think that the image of duct taping a child and throwing him into a closet will ever be funny to me.

[THANKS TO: The Big Lead for linking to this post.]

[THANKS TO: One of my favorite bloggers, Matt Brown, of Good Brownie, for linking to this post.]