He’s dead… He was found dead on his front porch on a Saturday morning, completely alone. My first thought is, “I wonder where he is going for his afterlife?”
My second thought is, “Does it make me a bad person because I am not upset he is gone?”
I am not going to say that I was happy to hear Dave was deceased. The best way to describe the feeling is relief. Relief that I never have to worry about seeing him in person ever again. I never have to feel that terrible feeling that creeps into my body like the coldest chill imaginable. I feel relief.
I struggle on what to say to my family, although the only member of this branch of my family tree that I still have any contact with is my Aunt. I love my Aunt dearly, but I have no idea what to say. I cannot say, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
That is not a true statement. Let me clarify the reason I am not sorry for their loss. It is not because I am happy he is gone, it is because I am happy he is finally away from my family so that he can no longer play the hero that he was not, or the good, wonderful family man that was so far from the truth.
I wish I could say, “Sorry for your loss.”
However, the only statement that would hold true and have meaning is “I am so very sorry that you are grieving (over a child molester).”
I felt as though saying, “I am sorry you are grieving” seemed cold, or even rude. So I kept silent, I did not want to hurt anyone I love especially when they are already in emotional pain.
When you think of the words ‘child molester’, it brings images that are very far from the truth. I would bet that a majority of people would not describe a child molester to be a loyal, hard-working, dedicated family man. Someone who is very dependable, charming, likeable and even handsome, or good looking. But the scary truth is that a child molester cannot be described with a visual image, instead they must be described by the actions in which qualify them as a child molester. For most people, the actions of a child predator are too disgusting, revolting and extremely heartbreaking to comprehend. Therefore, our brain creates a visual image of a monster that in reality, does not exist.
Those that knew Dave Mathers, believed that he was an honorable and hard-working man. On the outside, Dave Mathers was a ‘Knight in Shining Armor’, he was loved dearly by most that knew him. Over his lifetime, Dave would prove to everyone he knew, that he was a loyal and dedicated individual. He was dependable and always willing to jump in to help anyone in need. There are probably only a small handful of people on this earth that would have anything negative to say about him.
But behind closed doors Dave had terrible secrets. The man that I knew as Dave Mathers was not a man at all, he was a monster. Dave Mathers was what some might refer to as the ‘perfect pedophile’. He never faced any criminal or civil consequences for the crimes that he committed against children over his lifetime. The only punishment he ever faced in this world was Karma. Karma took his voice, his wife and left him all alone to die. Now he faces whatever punishment his afterlife may have to offer.
Dave Mathers should be used as an example, to help fight the sex abuse crisis we face as a society. Our children deserve a safer world.