It’s not real often I get serious (No, I mean it this time.) but I read a story this morning that just hits a little to close to home.

You probably know that Tammy and I work with the youth at our church. We both spend a lot of time on Xanga and MySpace keeping up with the kids’ lives and doing our best to look out for them. 99% of the time, it’s all good fun as we leave each other silly and encouraging comments. But once in a while, we have to sit the kids down and remind them that we live in a scary world. (I won’t name names, but you girls know what I’m talking about.)

Now, all you kids, I want you to read this and please try to let it sink in for more than 20 seconds. We love you all and want you to be safe. (Bracketed text added for clarity).

[Mr. Wonderful] contacted the [14 year-old] girl through her MySpace Web site in April, telling her that he was a high school senior who played on the football team.

In May, after a series of e-mails and phone calls, he picked her up at school, took her out to eat and to a movie, then drove her to an apartment complex parking lot in South Austin, where he sexually assaulted her, police said.

This particular Mr. Wonderful was actually 19, but even if he had been 17 or 18 or 35, what difference would that have made? What the heck was a 14-year-old doing talking to, much less meeting, a stranger that she met on MySpace. Judging by the fact that he picked her up from school, I’m guessing that she hid the whole thing from her mom until it was too late. Sound familiar?!

Two other similar MySpace rapes have happened just in the last year or so:

• Connecticut – 27-year-old man raped a 13-year-old girl.
• Wisconsin – 22-year-old man abducted a 14-year-old girl and raped her six times.

The article concerns a lawsuit filed against MySpace by the girl and her mom. The sad thing is that blaming MySpace for what happened is like blaming Ford when you get drunk and slam your car into a tree. It’s the old “Guns don’t kill people” argument and it’s just as true about the internet as it is about guns. It is your responsibility to make sure you (or your kids) are safe.

It breaks my heart that our young kids have to make such mature decisions, but if they don’t make grown-up choices, they may face very serious (more than just grown-up) consequences.