It Went Viral, It’s Not True, But It Bears Thought

The San Antonio Police Department has looked into it.

And it would appear that, no, human traffickers are NOT snatching kids in broad daylight out of Ingram Park Mall.

The rumor had gone viral on those neighborhood community message boards so many of us belong to, often at the encouragement of HOAs. (They’re great for missing dogs, local traffic updates and garage sales, to be sure).

SAPD says they have no evidence to back it up, and it’s a rumor that has drifted around the web before.

Having said that…we ARE in peak back-to-school shopping season.

Plus hot weather is driving kids into the malls to hang out.

Plus we’re all so absorbed in our “devices” that our personal, and collective, sense of situational awareness is down. A lot.

Add to all of that the recent local stories in which people were crossing the border and actually trying to buy and sell kids, stories that are the most nauseating, depressing and alarming that you can read or hear.

Bottom line: whether or not it’s happening at Ingram Park, it is happening, and it could happen, and we are more vulnerable to it than we should be.

So: think about it.