Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

Have You Seen Ashley Summers?

dlayphoto:

Ashley Summers disappeared July 6, 2007 from her Cleveland, Ohio home, and hasn’t returned since.

The media has, for the most part, ignored the story, since Ashley isn’t from an affluent suburb, according to local crime writer/Scene contributor James Renner, known for his investigative work on the Amy Mihaljevic case. “If she’d been a cute young little girl from a rich suburb, you’d know her name. She’d be all over the news. Maybe even on Nancy Grace. But 15-year-old Ashley Summers was from the near-West side of Cleveland, from a ramshackle house on Holmden Avenue where the lawn has been overrun by little kids and dogs.”  The local media put out the family’s press release, but hasn’t bothered to speak with the family, nor have any of the outlets broadcasted any follow-up stories.

The FBI has has an open Missing Person investigation, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children placed her on their list last June.

According to information posted on Renner’s blog, The Coldest Cases, Ashley was living with a great-uncle on Holmden Avenue, in a dangerous neighborhood, at the time of her disappearance. Eric “Big Willie” Wilson was a known frequenter of the area at the time. Wilson has been in the news as the man who shot 12-year-old Cookie Thomas, who got caught up in the gunfire from a botched drug deal. Wilson went on the lam and was captured in Montana. He was found guilty last year of kidnapping and raping a woman, who escaped, in 2004.

Renner also brings up another twist: Ashley was known to frequent the McDonald’s on Lorain and the area where Georgina DeJesus and Amanda Berry went missing. Also, Berry’s family got a call after Amanda disappeared, from a man who said she was alive and safe. Ashley’s family received a similar call after she disappeared. Could all three disappearances be linked?

If you have any information on Ashley’s whereabouts, please contact the Cleveland Fugitive Task Force at 216-522-1400, the Cleveland Police Department’s First District at 216-623-5118, the FBI Cleveland Field Office at 216-522-1400, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-THE-LOST. A reward is available.

More information, discussion and latest information available at The Lakewood Observer.

Wrecked

thisbeautifulmess:

clarityunfiltered:

Today, something in me has to ask: As Americans, what are our intentions in regards to activism? In other words, are we just flirting with the idea of helping others because it is popular, or are do we truly care? What will it take to move from a point of ignorance to awareness to action, and make it stick as a lifestyle?

Call me cynical (thank you, journalism,) but I have to ask if our enthusiasm to make a difference in the world comes from a real desire inside of us to help others, or a latent desire to be accepted. I mean, are we doing this because deep inside, we want to “fit in” and right now, saving the earth and saving the people of the earth is the trendy thing to do, or has something struck us so deeply, we can’t help but respond in love and action? I feel that some of us, if we were truly honest (myself included some days,) would have to confess that we really don’t care, and that worries us. That’s the fast track to getting kicked out of the cool club where Save the Earth T-shirts and Free Tibet stickers are de rigueur. But come on: Would some of us actually give a damn if people didn’t tell us to?

Activism has changed our lives through the centuries, from William Wilberforce lobbying for the end of the slave trade in England to Mother Theresa starting a quiet revolution by caring for the dying, but I think many people in the modern Western Hemisphere have had their hearts squashed under a selfish need to seek comfort. Ouch. (By the way, as I point my finger at you, there are three pointing back at me.)

Change, or revolution as it were, is never comfortable. It hurts like hell. It causes us to give up everything we are and everything we have for the belief that the condition of the lives of others is more important than securing our own comfort. I’m sure there were many days when Mother Theresa was hurting and uncomfortable. But her personal comfort mattered little to her in light of offering peace and rest to the dying around her that had suffered a mountain of hardship their entire lives. The center, the key to her happiness and joy, was serving God by serving the dying. (Mark 9:41 - I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.) It had become a “moral imperative,” which is a word I picked up from Andy Stanley’s book Visioneering. Stanley defines “moral imperative” as a vision that has become so ingrained through God’s direction and leading, that, if you do follow through, you feel as though you are disobeying God. Sure, this comes from a Christian perspective, but for those who don’t have the same beliefs, feel free to apply it this way: Is there something in your life that has wrecked you for the ordinary? Is there something you just have to do, and if you don’t do it, you just feel wrong? 

Changing the world becomes a moral imperative for the true revolutionary. It’s something that gets under your skin and digs into every nook and cranny to the point that not doing it feels alien, wrong. It comes out of love, which is the most powerful substance in the universe. Are we willing to be so wrecked? Will we allow the power of invading, eternal, poured out love saturate our lives to the point where our lives are no longer our own? I for one hope so. The power of love (Thanks Huey Lewis) can change the face of the planet if we will give over our comfort in favor of serving others. 

Nothing to add to this at the mo’ but want to reblog in order to reread it and think further about your questions. And it’s been awhile since I’ve read that Visioneering book. Perhaps I need to find myself a copy again.

I really enjoyed this.

I’ve reposted it because the author has made public an often private dialogue. An important dialogue to have in my opinion—the origins of our motivations. 

It is true that ‘we often have to be told to care’ or to be called into action from our default setting of complacency (I am speaking of those of us in North America). But I think that asking these questions of ourselves means that we’re not so wrecked after all.