Context re Hamburg Airport Hostage Event
November 4, 2023, was my son’s 18th birthday. A day to be celebrated, at least according to society, 18 is when a person instantly transforms from being a child to adulthood. Turning 18 affords my son the opportunity to vote, to enlist in the armed forces, and not much else. But hey, he’s now an adult.
On November 4, 2023, an armed man drove his car through a security barrier at Hamburg Airport, Germany. This incident quickly became an international story. The incident had all the ingredients, at first blush, to reasonably conclude a terrorist plot was unfolding. Add into the mix, the man had a hostage. Demands for money, direct flight to safety or whatever. However, it turns out, the “hostage” was the man’s daughter whom, presumably, was the subject of a custody dispute (not anymore, the father’s chaotic actions have put an end to any possibility of a parenting plan).
I can hear some murmuring to themselves and projecting I am advocating for the man against the safety of his daughter and others who could very well have been hurt, or worse, throughout the time the situation unfolded. Sorry to disappoint, I’m not advocating for abduction, violence, or damage to property. However, I am asking for the situation be viewed as a whole by including everything with context. What drives a person to descend into such chaos? Simple, this man is a father who was being cut from his child’s life because of a custody dispute. The facts of the custody dispute are currently unknown, but let the knowledge of a father possibly being alienated from his child be enough to form some additional context to the situation.
Allow me to share why I ask for the situation to be viewed as a whole with context. Once upon a time, I genuinely understood what it would take to take another’s life! Yes, at one point, it made total sense to me what it would take for someone to commit murder. How did I understand such a horrendous act? Well, my son who just turned 18. I haven’t seen my son in the flesh for 10 years. I have personally experienced all the emotions of a custody dispute and alienation. Furthermore, I thoroughly understand the chaos the father at Hamburg airport was feeling and experiencing. Fortunately for me, I took the chaos and turned it into energy and returned to school in my mid-thirty’s to become an attorney to fight for people like me, and for father’s such as the man in Hamburg.
It is against nature for another person or people, whether it be mother, father, attorney, or judge, to deny any parent access to their children. Denying access to children breaks the natural parent/child bond, for which people can do drastic things when they are faced with not seeing their children. There is chaos! Therefore, I am advocating for courts, family law attorneys, parents, and anyone else who decides to involve themselves in custody disputes to think about possible consequences for your actions. The father at Hamburg Airport’s actions were the consequences of other decisions. I will put a pin here by stating the father also made some fateful decisions which led up to the incident at the airport. However, he, more likely than not, only wanted to be a father to his child. I assume, all things being equal, the last thing he wanted was to deny the mother access to the child, I know, his actions say otherwise, but this is why we need to look at the whole. How long was he working with the other parent to find some kind of agreement? Did mom deny him access because she had nothing left but the child to use as a weapon for revenge? Of course mom didn’t anticipate a “hostage” situation at Hamburg Airport, unfortunately, obstruction of the parent/child relationship will almost always lead to chaos, and chaos comes in different shapes and sizes.
Spare a thought for the millions of parents around the world who fight for the right to be a parent daily. It is not natural.
