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By Patrick Hurley July 23, 2006 To many of you, Natalee Holloway was just an irritating name for a missing person who drove the media to make millions of dollars as they manipulated her disappearance. To some of you, she was a representation of how pretty young caucasian women get overexposed in the news to the detriment of minorities. And, to a few of you, Natalee is not worth any sympathy because she hurt Aruba's tourism business and cast a negative light on the Van Der Sloot and the Kalpoe families. One thing is certain; her case has brought international attention and has sparked strong passions among millions of people out there. I have emotions about Natalee, too. My feelings are varied depending on which aspect of the case you are talking about. I am extremely angry at the Aruba authorities who deliberately covered up the facts of this case from the very beginning. When Dave Holloway walked into the office of Dennis Jacobs, the chief of police, and asked about his daughter the response was, "How much money do you have?" As Dave stood there stunned at the callousness of that opening salvo more gibberish followed, "Go down to Carlos and Charlies and have a beer. She will show up eventually. They always do. Just be careful with your drink." This is how Aruba initially handled a grieving father who was shaken to the core because his child had vanished off the face of the earth. It was a shameful response that revealed the tip of the corrupt legal iceberg Natalee's family and friends were about to encounter in the upcoming year. Had I been Dave Holloway I would have gone over, picked up Dennis Jacobs by both collars and slammed his pathetic essence up against the wall and said, "My daughter is MISSING jerkweed! Don't tell me to go have a Bud Light. Don't sit there smugly and ask about my financial portfolio. Get off your lazy butt and let's get to work or you will find your job MISSING when I get done with you!" It is obvious that if it had been Mr. Jacob's daughter, he would not have strolled over to Carlos and Charlie's and tipped a few as he relaxed with his friends waiting for HER to show up... I am disgusted with Paulus and Joran Van der Sloot. They keep screaming, "Victim!" when they are as far removed from that concept as a vicious tiger is sinking his teeth into a helpless fawn. Their excuses, alibis, explanations, refusals to help, arrogance, self-pity, contradictions and cowardice are outrageous and nauseate me. How dare they sit back and blame the Holloways and Twittys when it was JORAN who last saw a girl who is now dead and gone forever! If I came home from high school and my dad asked me, "The police were just here looking for a girl were you with her?" If my answer was, "Oh, yeah, but I left her on the beach and came home. I never saw her after that. It was three o'clock in the morning and she was drunk out of her mind so I got away from her." MY father would have knocked me clear across the room for TWO reasons; the weak excuse I gave him about my alibi and for being with her in the first place at that hour. Paulus will never be, "The Father of the Year" for the way he coddles his irresponsible son. Allowing a 17 year-old boy to roam casinos, pick up girls left and right at all hours of the night and day and covering his gambling losses while hiding all this from the naive wife and mother is a recipe for disaster. Joran grew up learning how to lie and get his way. That is pathetic parenting, folks. It is no surprise to me that when Joran was FINALLY arrested, Paulus sweated like an agnostic in a piper cub in an electrical storm. Instead of being upright and helpful like a mature adult, he ducked out of a televised interview, ran like a deer caught in the headlights of a Peterbilt whenever cameras were around, refused to let the police search his property and poured legal advice into the young minds of three boys who were desperate to cover their tracks for a crime of which they were INNOCENT? "No body, no case" says it all for the cretin who realized far too late that he should never have been a father to anyone, much less a violent-prone punk like Joran, in the first place. Finally, I am permanently saddened for two parents who never deserved to lose their daughter on that horrific night in May. This week I took my daughter to a car dealership and bought her a 2001 Rav4 because she had been in a serious accident three weeks ago totalling her vehicle. When she called me that afternoon and I heard the fear in her voice, "Dad, I've been in an accident," my heart stopped. A guy ran a red light and she hit him broadside. Fortunately, because she was in a Rav4 she was not injured seriously. She is my only child and I love her more than I have ever loved anyone. She is my baby. She is in college like Natalee would have been had she lived. My heart goes out to Dave and Beth because I am a dad who loves my daughter and I can only partially relate to the pain they will feel forever. I know if it were my child, I would never stop looking and hoping and their quest for closure is as dank and dark as the actions of the ones who took Natalee away from her life that night. No amount of writing or feeling can comfort the soul of a parent who goes to sleep every night and wakes up every morning with that sickening feeling of loss. I do not wish that pain on anyone even those who glibly set up websites laughing, cackling and misrepresenting the motivations of these two people who spent their time, energies, emotions, finances and concerns on a child from the first moment of her existence to that final graduation night. And, in one swift span of two hours, she is gone forever. Forever. How does a mother or a father cope with that loss? The answer is basic. They don't. They never do. I know there are thousands of parents out there who have lost a child but, that does not make the hurt more palpable. The Natalee Holloway case is not a media event. It is not a competition of one website pitted against another. It is not about money or politics or even a boycott. It is about a human being with a soul who meant so much to her family and friends and is no longer with them to enjoy, to laugh with, to experience passages like her wedding, the birth of her first child and hundreds of reunions and holidays with those who celebrate their existence with her. I went in and said good morning to my daughter today and told her I loved her. I know that at any time or moment, she could be taken away from me. It could be another auto accident or a plane crash. Or, it could be because she trusts someone late one night and believes they will act responsible with her best interests in mind. I pray that if my daughter ever encounters someone who is sociopathic and does harm to her that the authorities will do something that Aruba and the Dutch government deliberately failed to do; make certain there is justice for the person who not only ended my daughter's dreams in life, but ended mine for her, as well. Because I am a father, I will forever lift up Dave and Robin Holloway and Beth Twitty to God in the hope that He will grant them comfort, inner peace and eventually the joy of reliving warm memories of a wonderful daughter who was a gift from God for eighteen years. I will also pray that someday Joran and Paulus will miraculously develop a conscience and come forward and tell the world what really happened that night to Natalee Holloway. Ephesians 4:15 states, "But speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects in Him." To these two individuals I say, it is time to speak the truth and be adults of conscience. Come out of the darkness and into the light. You will only find your peace when you acknowledge your ways and bring comfort to the innocent who need you to reveal the secrets of your deeds. That honesty, if it ever happens, would finally put my emotions to rest and bring a smile of final relief to my heart. ------------ About the author:   Pat Hurley has won three Emmy awards for writing, hosting and producing television shows. He resides in Southern California. Email: coolhumor@sbcglobal.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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