Runaway Home

First she leaves her fiance at the altar. No word at all. Then she disappears completely. Family and friends fear kidnapping. Authorities are now involved, lending their support and resources to help find this poor woman. Has she been kidnapped? Why did she disappear? Is she even still alive??? The sense of pain and longing must have been great. The stress her close family and friends endured surely took its toll. The police use their precious manpower to search for this missing woman. Then, Mom gets a call. Her daughter is on the other end. She tells her mother she is safe, that she didn't want to go through with the wedding. She has not been kidnapped, though she originally told the New Mexico police that she had. The tireless efforts of her family, friends, and the police force are all in vain. She got cold feet. Oh well, that's just fine and dandy. The police surely don't mind using their resources and taxpayer dollars to find a woman who doesn't need to be found. Hey, while we're at it, lets pay her $500,000 for the rights to use her selfish little stunt as basis for the next Lifetime movie of the week. We all know that a runaway bride story is always in fashion. Meanwhile, crime is rising, children are constantly being hurt by OTHER CHILDREN, lives are lost each and every day, but one woman's tearjerking flight from the altar is prime time news. And worth half a million dollars, maybe more, according to the alleged fact that the family was in talks with a competing network to try to squeeze out a little bit more, just to pay those annoying phone bills one must make to call home and tell the search party not to bother. If Katie Couric lands the *Exclusive* first interview back from your horrible little ordeal, then you should damand top dollar for your story. As the producers of your new TV movie earn much needed advertising revenue and get a tremendous boost in their weekly ratings, Hollywood once again sends out the signal that it is ok to lead people on, to think only for yourself, to waste the police's time; in fact, it warrants rewarding. Half a million dollars worth. How much would her family have put up for a reward had she been missing for more than a month or so? I guess she didn't think that far ahead. But that's ok, because once her movie deal is finalized, she can afford some Ginko Biloba to help her memory. Heck, if her family lives in a crappy house, they can call the producers of Extreme Makeover, Home Edition to come and fix it up. I see a crossover in the works. What's next, a new reality show about runaway brides? I can smell the drama from here.

As much as I love my country, it absolutely sickens me to see this. Gone are the days that true hard work and decent living will earn you money and self esteem. Now you have to become national news to get anywhere. This woman should watch the coverage of that poor high school girl who is missing in Aruba. She needs a dose of reality. And little miss bug-eyed runaway bride, her husband, and family, should take each and every dollar made from her TV movie deal and give it to the police force that so graciously helped look for her, and to her community. Jennifer Wilbanks doesn't deserve a single dime of it.