Just One More Sad Thing, Before Moving On!!!!!!!!!!!!

And no, girls, I am NOT talking about today being the last day of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which I do not believe for a second. Or, rather, I believe Oprah's show as we have known it, will fade into history, but not Miss Winfrey herself. First of all, let's face it, how could she? And second, being a woman who loves to work on projects, you can bet we will not have heard the last of her. So I am hardly crying the blues for Oprah!!!!!!!!

But today is a more serious anniversary. In fact today has been designated National Missing Children's Day, based on the case that inspired this distinction--Etan Patz.

Today, just as Tyler Clementi's name has already become code for gay bullying, Etan's is code for every mother's nightmare--having a child gone missing. While the Adam Walsh case is no less tragic or important, Etan's was helped by the fact it happened in one of the world's media capitals--Manhattan.

Thirty two years ago, on this very day, a Friday, a six year old boy, declaring his independence, was allowed to walk to his bus stop by himself. He never got there. What followed put the Patzes in the same media glare now faced by the Clementis, and this couple handled themselves admirably, too.

For me, it was a tragic period also. Etan's abduction took place just seven weeks after my mother's death. I was living at home, unestablished, and coping with my own issues, when this case happened, which caught my attention immediately. I suspected soon after the child was dead. What I never could ascertain was how come a body was never found. It took me thirty years to find the answer to that.

Which came from Lisa R. Cohen's excellent 2009 book "After Etan--The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive." She establishes that Jose Antonio Ramos, a friend of the Patzes' babysitter at the time, has admitted, while imprisoned in Pennsylvania, that he abducted and murdered Etan in 1979. At one point in the book we learn that Ramos was also the Super of an apartment building on East Tenth Street. I think the address was 204 E. 10th. In the basement was an incinerator, to where he took the deceased body of Etan and........

So I cannot blame that Stan Patz, ever since, on both this day, and Etan's birthday, October 9th, sends to Ramos in prison an 8 by 10 of the now iconic photo, writing on the back, "What did you do to my little boy?" In fact, should Mr. Ravi be set free and clear, I would wish someone--maybe yours truly, darlings--would do the same to him, with regard to Tyler Clementi.

But today is Etan's Day, so let us remember him. And hope that the world can somehow be made safer for children, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!

To them belongs the innocence and magic. Allow them to keep it!!!!!!!!!