Beauty and the Beast. The story of Ted Cummings, and Elizabeth Thomas is an old one. A man in mid life crises being attracted to a young girl is not the most surprising thing in the world. Of course there is revulsion, and cries of pedophilia, but that's not what's in play here. This is a man grasping for his youth by enticing a girl, who while may be physically well grown, is not mentally equipped to understand the situation at all. He's looking for a “new beginning” and she just moved from dolls to high school crushes. This is a recipe for disaster.
Social norms adjust from place to place, indeed from era to era. When Chuck Berry recorded “Sweet Little Sixteen” the “coming out” of a young girl on the eve of womanhood was a recognized red letter day, with the understanding that she would need a bit more time to “learn the ropes” before she took her place in society, that place in the 50’s being a wife and mother. The young man she would marry would be honing his skills to be the provider as she kept house, raised the kids, and if all went well, the grandkids.
Still, you must ask why does a man of that age become entangled with a teenage girl? There is no common ground, no future, and no hope. As the last nine days have played out I've watched. At first it was called a kidnap crime, but released Facebook items have shown that it was a full blown romance between a starry eyed girl and an old fool. The girl IS endanger when you realize that when Cummins dreams and life comes crashing down around his ears he will turn on her as the primer of his delusional view of life.
I take a young man to work every morning. When I drop him off, and start home, there is a pretty girl sitting, waiting on a bus to take her to high school. I can see her backpack filled with books. I stop at the light, she smiles, I smile. I think, “Oh, to be young again,” but I'm not, and she is, and her gift to me is a pleasant smile, perhaps a nod, and my wishing her a good day at school, and a happy life. Cummins has robbed Beth of all that. He has thrust her helter skelter into an adult world when she should have been talking with her BFF about the best looking boy on the football team.
So what's his plan? I mean we all know they can't just settle down somewhere. Well, I'm an expert at that, having at twenty eloped with my seventeen year old girlfriend. . . to Mexico! I've watched as he headed south from Tennessee, and presumably west at Alabama. Back in the day we went to Mexico. We ventured forty miles into the country, swore allegiance to the Mexican flag, and were married. When we returned to the states her father gave as an American wedding. Some differences here. For one, the age span between us was only about three years. Two, we were able to return and live a fairly normal life. Finally, I don't even know if the laws are the same, and he could end up in a Mexican jail and she . . . well, gringo girl, alone, Mexico?
This will end badly for him, but begin badly for a young lady who is scarred for life. Only when he is captured, and looks into the faces of his grandchildren will he come to realize the cost of his actions. We should all pray for Elizabeth's return, but no amount of prayer will return her to innocence. Cummins took that, and left it in a motel somewhere. Beauty and the Beast? It will be beauty that kills the beast!
Social norms adjust from place to place, indeed from era to era. When Chuck Berry recorded “Sweet Little Sixteen” the “coming out” of a young girl on the eve of womanhood was a recognized red letter day, with the understanding that she would need a bit more time to “learn the ropes” before she took her place in society, that place in the 50’s being a wife and mother. The young man she would marry would be honing his skills to be the provider as she kept house, raised the kids, and if all went well, the grandkids.
Still, you must ask why does a man of that age become entangled with a teenage girl? There is no common ground, no future, and no hope. As the last nine days have played out I've watched. At first it was called a kidnap crime, but released Facebook items have shown that it was a full blown romance between a starry eyed girl and an old fool. The girl IS endanger when you realize that when Cummins dreams and life comes crashing down around his ears he will turn on her as the primer of his delusional view of life.
I take a young man to work every morning. When I drop him off, and start home, there is a pretty girl sitting, waiting on a bus to take her to high school. I can see her backpack filled with books. I stop at the light, she smiles, I smile. I think, “Oh, to be young again,” but I'm not, and she is, and her gift to me is a pleasant smile, perhaps a nod, and my wishing her a good day at school, and a happy life. Cummins has robbed Beth of all that. He has thrust her helter skelter into an adult world when she should have been talking with her BFF about the best looking boy on the football team.
So what's his plan? I mean we all know they can't just settle down somewhere. Well, I'm an expert at that, having at twenty eloped with my seventeen year old girlfriend. . . to Mexico! I've watched as he headed south from Tennessee, and presumably west at Alabama. Back in the day we went to Mexico. We ventured forty miles into the country, swore allegiance to the Mexican flag, and were married. When we returned to the states her father gave as an American wedding. Some differences here. For one, the age span between us was only about three years. Two, we were able to return and live a fairly normal life. Finally, I don't even know if the laws are the same, and he could end up in a Mexican jail and she . . . well, gringo girl, alone, Mexico?
This will end badly for him, but begin badly for a young lady who is scarred for life. Only when he is captured, and looks into the faces of his grandchildren will he come to realize the cost of his actions. We should all pray for Elizabeth's return, but no amount of prayer will return her to innocence. Cummins took that, and left it in a motel somewhere. Beauty and the Beast? It will be beauty that kills the beast!
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