Shocking news can happen every day. Yet, not all shocking news are equal. Some are more equal that it causes sensation all over the world.
This morning, when I read The Strait Times, I gaped and was inevitably stunned. Captivated by the eye-catching title of an article, 'Monster Dad', I decided to read and scrutinize. Well, I can realize whether an article is gorgeous or not but I can never wonder how big.
Shortly, the news is about a father who locked his daughter and later, her children inside the basement of his house for 24 years. The secret was broken when one of the children fell unconcious that he had to be taken to hospital. The chain reaction followed and the cover was blown up. But what truly amazed me is the indecent intelligence of the monstrous dad, Josef Fritzl, to keep the disguise for so long until even his wife and other children had never any ideas about this.
Trained as an electric engineer, Mr. Fritzl planned the basement meticulously and almost flawlessly. The basement, thought it is very narrow and small, provides proper facillities where normal human being can live. Besides that, Fritzl arranged a awesome security system so there would be only him who could access the secret passage. I am also very amazed on how he could keep three illegitimate children, all fathered by him, in that mental-torturing dungeon. The children even hadn't seen sunlight before they were released by the police.
What I want to guess here is the current mental state of Elizabeth Fritzl, the poor daughter, along with her children. What would it feel if you are captured for 24 years? You have no chance to talk to your friends. You will surely lose the touch of the modern world. You will be dejected for you have only limited social space. And the one who keeps you inside is the person that you hate very much.
Is it really like this? How can that person survive then? Look at the 'normal' news. People all around the world march and sing for freedom. they will protest and remonstrate even if they have to change their all-vehicle habit to all-walking habit. Look at the busy people's behaviours. They can get irritated so easily even if we only touch them when they are under pressure. I ponder, does human's mental survival ability have any limits when there are no obivous hopes?
The general opinion is when there's a will, there's a way. However , we see from this 'kidnapping' case that Elisabeth can survive for 24 years. I think that she's well aware of hte small probabiliy of her getting out of the artificial jail. I begin to think of another possibility.
Maybe, a man is born with almost unlimited will to survive. However, when the man is educated with several mindsets brought by the society's system, man begins to forget his natural ability and thus unconciously obeys the subtle system. Like pressure in work or school, for example. A particular target is set for the person and that target must be fullfilled so the person can gradually earn status and position in society, which basically is needed to survive. When there is no obvious target, when there is nothing to lose, will you lose your will to live? Or you just want to live without thinking what is the real purpose?
I imagine that Elisabeth had tried once or many times to commit suicide, but malicious Josef might have anticipated this step before. Elisabeth would lose her sense of real life for so mone years in captivation. Then she might begin to live in her fantasy. What kind of escape did she have?
I also want to observe the children. They never experience and know the real world. I figure that their mindset wiould be limited to the extent of that basement's wall. What kind of entertainment did they have? Surely, Josef wouldn't give a thing about the children's development. Elisabeth must be the central figure who acts as a mother, a teacher, and a saviour. Did Elisabeth secretly tell them a hope that there would be a free world, where the sun is bright, then air is free? The children have almost reached puberty. Will they ever be accepted in society? What are their thinking-levels now?
My memory rolls back to Natascha Kampusch. She is a very good example to study. She was captured for 8 years before she was released. Though the period is shorter, she also suffers from torture and unstoppable will to be free. From Natascha's case, I can inductively assume what happened to Elisabeth and her chilldren. Natascha was intelligent and seemed to be educated normally, thanks to her capturer's willingness to supply her with newspapers and radio. Natascha also developed an inexplicable sympathy towards her ex-capturer, no matter how much violences she had received from him in the past.
Maybe Elisabeth and the children has also developed the same sympathy. Maybe Fritzl had managed to educate them and become the ambassador of the outside world for them.
It's so ironic that this thing is driven only by simple lust. When Elisabeth has grown up and became 42, maybe the-also-ageing Josef will try to find new 'concubine'. It seems that he has stopped, but once the sin was made, it can't be rejected. He needs to keep his reputation, but at the end of the day loses it all.
Just a dangerous gambit. But a quite successful one.
Maybe people will curse Josef as a devil now. He probably has lost his conscience.
That's right. He has lost his conscience over a simple thing. He cannot dodge to be unsatisfied. He has created many ordeals and troubles which are actually not needed for his survival. Nonetheless, the pressure of keeping the secret has pushed him away from the boundary of normality. He has made a wicked but witty invention.
It also means that he once had a hope that this secret would be forever, or at least, until he lay inside his grave. Has he ever thought what will happen if he suddenly dies? He's already 73.
That's the power of will. You forget the real world, you create the new boundaries, and you blow it over. It's just your purpose that differentiates what the will's product will be, a crime or a celebration of mankind.
It's like an old saying:
"Kill one, you become a murderer.
Kill thousands, you become a king."