When I was four years old, I was the subject of an attempted kidnapping.
It wasn’t one of those well-organized kidnap-for-ransom type deals; it was just random bad luck.
At the time, I was chomping at the bit to be more independent. At that age, you can’t do anything by yourself -- and I HATED it.
My mom, being an open-minded
kind of parent, made a deal with me: While she did the grocery shopping, I was allowed to wait at the door to the supermarket.
So there I was, standing in the doorway, when a guy
came up to me, crouched down, held out his arms, and said, “It’s Pa! It’s Pa!”
He was maybe in his 20s or 30s, with long unkempt hair, no shoes, socks
flapping against the sidewalk. He was most certainly not my Pa.
“No,” I said, and walked a few feet to the other side of the entrance.
He came
after me, crouched down again, held out his arms again. “It’s Pa, it’s Pa,” he insisted.
“NO,” I said again. And then he picked me up and started
running.
I started screaming. My mother, with superhuman Mother Senses, heard me from the bowels of the store. She came out and sprinted after us. Caught up to us. Grabbed my heel,
but my shoe came off in her hand. She tripped and fell, twisting her ankle badly.
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My kidnapper kept running. I kept screaming.
All of a sudden, he stopped dead.
At the far end of the block, a crowd had gathered -- and these were no mere onlookers. They formed a human barrier, arms crossed, making it clear that this was not going to happen on
their watch.
He turned to cross the street -- but, there, another crowd was also blocking his way.
It was like that scene in “Spider-Man”: “You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!”
My kidnapper turned to go back the way he came -- and ran straight into my mom and the cops.
Not gonna lie, it was a terrifying ordeal. I had nightmares for years afterwards.
But my takeaway wasn’t only about the fear.
Being (almost) kidnapped taught me that there are people in the world who will do bad things, people I have to be
careful of.
But it also taught me that, for every one person who may do me harm, there are hundreds more who will help.
It taught me that I can ask for that help
-- even from strangers.
It taught me that the world can be a pretty inspiring place.
This holiday season, I hope you’re surrounded by love and support, that
you are inspired by the people around you.
Thank you for welcoming me into your feed this year. See you in 2024.