possible in platte?

i found myself in a hotel room in oslo on monday evening, watching with that sort of sick sense of fascination one has when passing the scene of an accident, the story unfolding on BBC World of the family in austria where the father, josef fritzl, apparently kept the now 42-year-old daughter locked in the basement for 24 years and fathered seven children with her--children that were therefore both child and grandchild to him--3 of whom had never, ever seen the light of day.

the story itself is horrifying. how could someone possibly do that to their own child? he and his wife and apparently an older son lived in the house upstairs and they claim that at least the wife had no idea. three of the seven children he fathered with the daughter were brought upstairs to live a "normal" life--adopted by the man and his wife (whom he also fathered seven children with). they claimed to the authorities that the children were left on the doorstep by the daughter, who had run away to live in a cult. apparently, although this happened a stunning three times, the austrian authorities never questioned it or thought it sounded the least bit strange.

this story has me thinking about a society in which such a thing is possible. this family lived in an apartment building that they owned. the wife apparently lived up on the 3rd floor. but, how could you not notice that there was a whole area of the basement in the place where you lived that was off limits? wouldn't you ever wonder why? or question it? CNN is claiming that josef fritzl took a four week holiday in thailand during the time the daughter and her children were locked in the basement--who took care of them then, giving them food and water? it seems astonishing that he didn't have any accomplices.

and the amount of food it must have taken to feed seven children ages 19 to 5? how could you possibly explain that? a neighbor was actually quoted as seeing the son, who acted as a kind of building superintendent, take food into the house in an actual wheelbarrow. so, apparently it was noticed. but never questioned! the daughter, who "disappeared" at 18 had been abused by the father from age 11 and had tried several times to run away. so, he had an easy story to tell--that she had finally succeeded in running away.

amstetten, austria, where it happened, is a town of 23,000 people. you would imagine in a town of that size, that people would know one another or at least take note of one another, at least within a neighborhood. is it a symptom of a sick state of society that people are so enclosed in their own little worlds that they don't take note of things happening around them? on the spiegel online website, a woman who actually lived in the building for a time said she saw nothing suspicious. how could that be?

but then, i thought about my own neighborhood in denmark. frederikssund is a town of a similar size to amstetten. we know our neighbors on both sides--the ones uphill act as sort of surrogate grandparents to sabin and downhill, the middle daughter has been sabin's regular babysitter for a number of years now. but, go a little farther up or down the street and we have but a nodding acquaintance of our neighbors. i would have absolutely no idea whether they had their children locked up in the basement or not.

but, would it be possible in platte? i sincerely don't think so. granted, platte is a much smaller community, but the culture is different as well. people talk a lot more to one another. they notice what other people are up to. this can, of course, have its bad side, when talk takes the form of gossip. but, even gossip in austria might have helped in the tragic situation there--it would have sewn the seed of doubt. but, that didn't happen and there is a now 42-year-old woman who has completely lived the wrong life. that is truly a tragedy.

i guess the lesson in this is, get out there, meet your neighbors, talk to them, ask after their children, ask to see their basements. notice what's going on in your surroundings. just simply care more. be a better citizen. i know i intend to.