You Never Really Know

I have a slight fondness for reality TV. Rock of Love has been a guilty pleasure, as is any of the Housewives series and Big Brother. As the summer has come to a close, there was one show that caught my eye, and I decided to give it a go.

Megan Wants A Millionaire.

In catching up with my news this morning, I see that a former contestant of the show is a major suspect in the mutilation and killing of his wife.

The medical examiner could only identify the body via the serial numbers on the breast implants. Not by the dental records or fingerprints. Because of the mutilation.

So this little story got me thinking - you never really know someone. Time makes no difference - until the situation arises, a person can be as predictable as the setting sun.

Case in point:

- John Huber, a beloved Hagen Jr. High School science teacher in Dickinson ND (my hometown) murdered his wife, his wife's parents, and his wife's sister on March 15th, 1983. He just up and went crazy one night, and hunted down the people in his life he felt were responsible for the dissolution of his marriage. It shocked the entire town, and the students at the Jr. High were devastated.

One of the people he murdered, his wife's sister, lived two houses down and across the street from where I lived at the time. My brother and I used to play with her kids. When we woke up the morning following the murders, there were police vehicles all over the place. The family eventually moved away, but I remember thinking how said it was that my playmates didn't have a mom anymore.

- earlier this month, on August 4th, a former classmate of mine, Jeanne Ficek, was murdered by her husband of 20 years, Dennis Haugen, also a former classmate of mine. He shot her, then he shot himself. I didn't know them very well while in school, but I imagine Jeanne thought she knew her husband Dennis pretty well. But for whatever reason, one day he decided to end both their lives.

Friends of the couple who were interviewed said they were a quiet couple, with an 18 year old son, and both respected at their jobs. No indication as to what might have set off this murder-suicide.

So here we have two cases of people who've shown, by their actions, that you never really know someone. For whatever reasons, each of their situations "drove" them to commit heinous acts that didn't fit with their personalities or how people "knew" them to be. You can be married to someone for over 20 years, and one day they off you. You can be a respected and loved science teacher and one night hunt down your family members and pick them off, one by one, with a shotgun.

Life is a crapshoot. You take a chance when you're driving 70 mph on the highway, when you get on that plane to Chicago, or when you cross the street on your way to lunch with a friend.

You shouldn't have to worry about your life ending at the hands of someone you love.

But it's these, and other similar stories, that make me think twice about people. And make me want to enjoy my life fully every day I have one.