Kidnapped At The Mall

Last year, I had to get a passport for my daughter cuz we were going on a trip to China. So, we're getting a passport for my daughter. She was 3 months old at the time. It's a little tricky to hold up your daughter for the picture because they have a camera and they have a white screen, but I need to hold her up, but my hand can't be in the picture. So, it had to be like a specific angle and I wasn't getting her eyes and she was throwing up, but there's 750 people waiting and they're not patient. So, I came up with an idea. I said, "Maybe, you know what? There's a there's a we were in a mall. This is the Ocean County Mall or the I think it's called that. And right next to the passport center, there's a dollar store. So, I said, "You know what? Let me go next door. I'll get a $1 tablecloth, a white tablecloth. I'll drape it over the stroller that she's in. I'll put her in the stroller and then you'll take a picture there." So, that's what we did. I take my my four-year-old son at the time. I go running through the mall to the dollar store. I'm looking all over for the white sheet. I find one. I buy it. I come hustling back. I dodge the cans of tuna that they're throwing at me, the people online. And I go, I r I I put it on the the stroller. We take the picture. Gavaldic. I turn back. My son's gone. Just gone. So, at that exact minute, every single possible headline comes flashing into your brain. Okay, he's kidnapped. Every single person in the mall is a suspect. Yeah, that guy looks straight. Yeah, you're a serial killer. Yeah, it's you. I envision my son. He's inside like a suitcase. He's getting loaded onto a truck. He's being like hauled off to Mexico, shoved in a tunnel. And I frantically panic. I'm looking all over the place. And I sort of retrace my steps. And I walk into the dollar store and there he is just casually in the toy aisle looking at the toys. And I was saying to myself, like, how are you so calm? Like he knew I wasn't next to him. The answer is is because he had no clue the dangers of random people seeing a four-year-old in a mall. He didn't know the repercussions of what it means kidnapped and murder and mutilation. He doesn't know. But I know. We might not know what it means to get lost in the mall of life and to just sit there and in the toy aisle completely naively unaware that our soul is dying, is murdered and kidnapped. But Hashem knows and he will never give up and he will never give you peace ever until you make peace with your soul. It's not possible to be peaceful and to live a harmonious life if the soul is ignored. It's not possible. I know that there are a lot of ads and a lot of newspapers that will try to convince you otherwise. It's not possible because Hashem loves you too much.