Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Myriad of Emotions

As some of you may or may not know, a big news story here in Atlanta is that of Meredith Emerson, the hiker, who's body was found recently in one of our State parks in North Georgia. See this article if you're so inclined. Meredith Emerson

As a human being, this sickens me to the point of feeling empty, in that I want this man who killed her to face the same ending as she did. He agreed to show officials where her body was AFTER assuring he would not get the death penalty. And if I were in her parents shoes, I'd want the body if I couldn't have anything more.

As a woman (not that this can't happen to men), this makes me realize with an urgency that I must be more aware of my surroundings at all times, regardless of where I am or who I am with. I use to go cycling alone on the Silver Comet Trail that begins here in Georgia and ends at the Alabama border. I went alone, I went often (sometimes I went with my friend Rachel) and I never gave it a thought because at the beginning of the trail there's always a lot of hikers, walkers, runners and cyclists. However, after another woman was killed on that trail at the 17 mile marker, I began to notice that the plethora of people to readily available at the beginning of the trail begin to thin out around the 10 mile marker and were virtually non-existent at the 15 mile marker or further, save for the occasional cyclist that would go whizzing by.

It was then that Rachel and I promised never to cycle that trail alone and if one of us couldn't do, then we just didn't go, we went to the gym or found other things to do, with people around.

Rachel called me this morning to tell me she just heard Meredith Emerson's boyfriend on the Bert Show from Q100, a local radio station, and that it was the most heart wrenching thing to listen too and I believe it. Subsequently, Rachel's boyfriend has expressed his wishes for her not to go trail running by herself anymore, to which I and she agree. AND again, this morning we promised to never, ever go running, cycling, hiking, nothing of the sort without the other one or without someone with us and I know we'll both stick to it.

Because, as women our lives may depend on it.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Meredith Emerson. In time, may they find peace within their souls and find comfort in one another.

2 Comments:

Blogger hotdrwife said...

I hate - HATE - that we live in a world where we have to worry about these things. It's, of course, all over the news here as her family is from Colorado. This entire story -start to finish- makes. me. ill.

8:32 PM  
Blogger Big Pissy said...

This story made me ill.

Seriously.

I'd been keeping up with it all along....it's just so, so sad....

10:14 AM  

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