Today I heard a news story several times, and in the last report the conclusion was: "The victim is recovering at home." I have to ask: Who is the victim?

Apparently, a father and his 12-year-old daughter were leaving an amusement park just before midnight when a male grabbed the daughter in a sexually-suggestive manner. The father took offense and tried to stop the male, and the father was attacked by the attacker and knocked to the ground. The attacker then called some friends, and seven of his friends came to his aid in further assault on the father, attacking him with a softball sized rock, bashing in his head and effectively stopping him from defending his daughter--who, though the story was different in each report, was either further grabbed in sexually-explicit manners to being dragged away and molested in worst ways. Seven of the attackers were immediately arrested, and an eighth ran from the scene. Some reports say he was caught; others say they're still looking for him. The stories all emphasized the father's courageous actions and subsequent beating. And, as already stated, the last report I heard was that "the victim is recovering at home."

So, who is that victim? Is it the man that suffered a beating, getting his head bashed in, and being forced to watch his daughter being assaulted without being able to help her? Or is it the daughter? I think the reporter was referring to the father, and very little was said about the daughter's condition.

I understand that this entire situation was horrible, and that the father was badly hurt. I understand that he could have died without being able to help his daughter. But what about the daughter? Is she not a victim?

I don't think the reporter meant to diminish the girl's victimization. I think the reporter wanted to emphasize how even in the face of an older man defending his daughter, these young males were brazen enough to attempt to demonstrate that THEY ruled the streets and that THEY had control of every human that walked the streets. I think it was an attempt by the news media to incite outrage over this man's beating. The daughter's situation was largely ignored.

And in this light, I should no longer wonder why molestations of young women are not always reported. When a true victim is ignored in light of the heroic actions of the rescuer, why would a victim that had no such knight stand to proclaim her outrage? If such a publicized crime is publicly decried as an outrageous action of young people with little regard for a female that is clearly a victim, what can we expect from a situation where a single attacker assaults a single victim with no witnesses?

We should all be outraged by the attackers' actions, and we should all pray that God gives this young woman and her father courage to stand and proclaim their rights to live a life free from fear. Fear from other humans is nothing we should ever have to feel, and it is only through human behavior that such fear is fostered. We need to encourage every person to eliminate such fear or the threat of such fear from their life, though I fear it is impossible. Let us each look for good things, encourage young people to respect other people, and pray that God gives each of us strength to address fear in a way that would honor our faith in God and ourselves.