Very sick people

Swine Flu and a tragic tale of Tori Stafford

There are very sick people around. And I'm not talking about the swine flu. Although, that one should also be recorded for history: swine flu is the new SARS. Remember the SARS outbreak in 2003, serious maybe, but certainly over-hyped by the media? Apparently a strain of pig flu in Mexico got tired of living on pigs and jumped on to humans. Hence the name swine flu. Which infuriated the pig owners of the rest of the world, and it was quickly renamed as H1N1 strain. The media took over in flu-like frenzy and created a pandemic, reporting every person who sneezed as a case of the swine flu (they weren't letting go of such a compelling name for the disease). As it turns out, the swine flu is no deadlier than the regular flu and the vaccine is already being administered around the world. We had a few cases in Canada, even, I believe, two deaths, both of them attributed to the swine flu, but actually in both cases the person was in poor health before the flu came. So, the shirt makers in Toronto, who once sold the shirts with the sign "I survived SARS" must be rubbing their hands in delight; I expect to see the "I survived Swine Flu" version soon.

People suffering from flu are not the only sick ones. There are the other kind that make me wish there's death penalty in this country. Maybe we could somehow make a trade deal with the US and send them our psychos for the terminal solution in their electric-chaired rooms? Six weeks ago in Woodstock, Ontario, a small town about an hour drive from Toronto, an 8-year-old girl Victoria (Tori) Stafford disappeared after school. The surveillance camera video shows a woman in a white coat leading the girl away. The search was on for abducted girl. Yesterday, the police arrested a man and a woman, believed to be the same woman from the video, on murder charges. The search for the missing girl becomes the search to recover her body.

I remember being assigned as a photographer in 2003 to cover the grieving family of another child victim, a 10-year-old Holly Jones, who also disappeared after school. Being a part of the media circus in front of Holly's house was an experience I am truly ashamed of. Jumping at every goodhearted person who brought flowers, fighting with each other for the spot every time Holly's mother appeared at the door, we, the media, behaved like vultures. However, when the killer was arrested by the police, I had the same thought I have now, when the alleged killers of Tori were apprehended: I wish there is a capital punishment in Canada. There's one thing no one can justify to me: a murder of an innocent child. A person capable of such a crime should be dealt with in one way only, the same way he or she dealt with the child. Hey, it's even a recession-friendly solution: we don't spend money on keeping the bastard in jail forever. It's infinitely more just than a prison sentence and it sends a message to the other sickos out there.