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Yesterday, in Mount Forest, Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police discovered the remains of an eight year old girl who has been missing since April of this year.  Since two people have already been charged with her murder, discovering the body and reuniting this irrevocably damaged family is the best that the investigators hope to do.  As a mother, I’m torn by the thought of only finding some closure by having the body of my missing child returned for burial.

All over the world this same  scene is being played out because as inexplicable as it may seem, there are people out there who will readily murder children and there is nothing that we can really do about it.

I read an article recently about the benefits of making it mandatory to implant tracking chips under the skin of children and while – when one looks at a case like this one- there are obvious merits to the idea, there are some serious drawbacks as well…you know – like that big brother thing?

Why does the word “mandatory” need to creep into these ideas?  Maybe it is a good idea to have the option to implant a chip – as long as  your child – will later in life (and not too late) have the option to remove it.  I suppose when people think of it as optional then there will be a cost attached, which will naturally make it unlikely that all families who desire this option, will have access to it.  Still, in spite of sad days like this, I cannot support mandatory chip implants.