It happened yesterday…
I had some relatives that came to visit me in Switzerland. They live in the Netherlands so, truly it was a special visit. And so I decided to take them to Lenzburg which is the next town next to where I live, plus it has a cool “Schloss” (Castle) that I thought the kids would enjoy exploring for a while…
However, time passed and by the time we decided to head up towards that direction it was almost 5 in the afternoon, so I said…”why don’t we tour the surroundings of the Castle. It has nice walking trails…” and they do. Here’s a picture of the Castle viewed from the “Alt Stadt” (Old Town) of Lenzburg…
Boy am I glad we did, for we found a 4 year old boy lost…I mean, LOST. We were passing by the “Fussweg zum Schloss” which means “footsteps to the Castle”. These steps take you up the steep hill, straight to the gates of the Castle…did I mention how steep? This is definitely an alternative route for those wanting to do a “little” exercise!
A 4 year old boy, all alone…waiting…mind you it was hot…and he would NOT talk to us. He was scared, disoriented , no clue as to what to do…and of course, I was a stranger who couldn’t speak to him well in Swiss Deutsch??? This was VERY frustrating. When we first saw him, I must confess, I even thought he was just waiting for family to come down from the footpath. This is Switzerland, ok! Culture here teaches 4 year olds to walk to Kindergarten by themselves, cross the busy streets by themselves, be by themselves, without no parent supervision. This is normal. That’s why the thought of seeing him alone at first did not alarmed me. But then again, we’re not Swiss therefore the red flags started to flash on…a sticker on his T-Shirt that says Schloss Lenzburg, the bag he had with him from the Kinder Museum with a “shield” made out of carton that he obviously made in the Kinder Museum located inside the Castle…I mean….Come on! The boy is LOST! AND….the fact that he wouldn’t talk or respond freak me out even more!
First, I called the 144 emergency #, they told me since it was not a medical situation to call the police, so I called 117 #. UNIMAGINABLE! No one could help me because nobody spoke ENGLISH….or FRENCH, PORTUGUESE, SPANISH…! I asked him several times, he said, “NEIN”…I kept explaining where I was, that I found a child who I believed was lost, “please come to where I am”…and nothing. I GOT SOOOO MAD!!! You see, I’m an American. I’m used to the police coming to aid me within minutes of something happening. Here? I felt desperately alone. SCREW THIS, I’ll find his Mother. I told my daughter to stay with the group while I would go up the hill via the footpath steps to the Castle, try to find the boy’s Mother and return. Finally, after an agonizing 1/2 mile climb, up the steps trying to catch my breath, yelling on my way up…”hello..anybody?…anyone out there?” I finally got to the entrance and started yelling,…”I found the boy, I found the boy!” The people obviously knew what was going on because a frantic Mother inside the Castle was desperately looking for her son who was apparently gone for almost an hour….AN HOUR!!!!
After I told her his name and explained that I found him, we both rushed down towards the descend to reach the bottom where everyone was waiting for us. Clearly…I witnessed a happy ending of Mother and Child together again.
BUT, what a total dissa!!! THE POLICE is useless, at least for me it is…if they can’t speak ENGLISH, right? Or do they? I mean…I wasn’t expecting that reaction from them at all!!! I’m thinking, hey, they will come and aid us quickly since the station is not far from where we are. Literally? They have a Police Station nearby the Castle. Why didn’t they send someone to see what was going on? I started to wonder. Didn’t the people working at the Castle called the Police? Didn’t Lenzburg know a child was missing? What were they doing up there to find the child? This is beyond me!
I guess the worst is over, and yet I just can’t help but wonder….what if something happened to my Daughter and I couldn’t get to her quickly. Would someone help her like I helped this Mother and Child? Would she be lucky enough to find people on her path to assist her, or would they ignore her without a care in the world? What would happened?
I pray to God that I would never have to find out or experience this horrific situation…ever!
This is the song that comes into my thoughts when I think about yesterday’s ordeal…from youtube, here’s the video…
