The Monster Among Us
No One is Safe


My greatest hope in all of this horror and tragedy is that people become more aware - that people learn some common "street-smarts" and realize they need to always be safe; not just when they know a killer is roaming the streets. A disturbing thing to realize once Derrick Lee was caught was how "normal" he looked. He looked nothing at all like the "monster" all of us had envisioned in our mind when we didn't know who he was. It's a frightening realization.

My best friend asked, when Lee was first caught, "Do you think it's really him?"

I have to admit when I first viewed Lee's mug, I wasn't convinced. I realized that in my mind – and I'm sure I can speak for others here – that I dreamed up some sort of monster in my head to put to the nameless terror that kept me up more than a few nights. With no face, and only the bodies of his battered and murdered victims left to imprint upon the mind, one conjures up the visage of some sort of evil creature. Not that you thought he looked like a hoofed demon or green imp, but that you pictured someone with dark, sinister eyes that seemed soulless. An almost average-looking person with a coldness that made him seem, somehow, inhuman.

When you first look at Lee after having that image in your mind for months, it doesn't seem to fit. He looks like a normal guy – there's not one thing about him that stands out and proclaims him a killer. He's an average-looking guy with an easy smile. And as this new, and true, image of the nameless terror that haunted you sticks in your mind you come to a new and horrible realization. That the monster lives inside – and that monster could be inside anyone. You want to be able to look at someone like that and separate them from yourself – it's easier to think of a person such as a serial killer as "different" than us; less than human or pure evil. The simple truth is, they aren't.

This is evident when you look at the face of Derrick Lee. He's a normal, living, breathing human being – who happens to have a more fucked up hobby than the rest of us. The point is, anyone could be Derrick Lee – and the thing to fear isn't some monster that lurks in the shadows, but real humans – like us – that we'd never expect if we just saw them walking down the street. It could be your neighbor, co-worker or cousin.

It's scary to realize that he's one of us – who or what can you trust if the disguise of a monster is so clever? I hope the thing this teaches people is to always be aware – to always be safe. Not just because there is a serial killer loose in your neighborhood, but because every day there are crazy people out there that might harm you. You don't have to live in constant fear of being attacked, but you should live in constant awareness.

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