Once again Southfield High has suffered the loss of one of its young students. This time it was junior Lauren Wilson-Church, a mere 15-year-old who was strangled to death on the second day of school near her Oak Park home.
In 2001, senior Lennel Caffey was killed over a pair of Cartier designer glasses.
Who will it be next year, or are we naive enough to believe it will not happen again?
Unfortunately, we live in a violent society where loved ones are sometimes stripped away from us by heartless murderers. Sometimes those murderers live in our own neighborhoods. Sometimes they live in distant countries like Iraq and enjoy posting videos of their gruesome beheadings on the Internet for all to see.
We may not be able to control what goes on in Iraq, but we can do something about what goes on at home. Lauren’s death is a lesson to all parents to know where their children are at all given times. This is hard to do, but apparently necessary. Teenagers enjoy their freedoms and push hard for them, but at the same time they need their parents and their teachers and their neighbors to keep a close eye on them.
Lauren’s death also teaches teenagers to inform their parents of where they are, who they are with, and what they are doing. This may sound like losing some freedom, but it’s more like gaining security. Homeland security starts in the home.
Lauren’s death also teaches us to appreciate those who are still here. Many times, loved ones aren’t appreciated until their obituary is printed. This is a sad reality but nevertheless, one we can learn from.
The young woman’s premature death reminds us all to carve out some sacred time each day to let our loved ones know that we appreciate them before it is their time to fly home.