"Let Madonna have Mercy, and Mercy Madonna. Merci"
I am even more persuaded now, after the judge denied Madonna her wish to adopt Mercy, that Mercy and Madonna should have each other. I have come to know a little bit of the enormous amount of charity work that Madonna is doing in Malawi. That was something I thought she ought to do, to affirm that she is not "one-dimensional", to borrow Marcuse's phrase. But she has been doing it! If I got it right, she's already supporting some 25,000 Malawian orphans!
Madonna has not just now set her eyes on Mercy or declared her interests, moreover, and yet, as roadblocks are set in her path, Mercy's future remains as bleak as when Madonna first knew her. There has appeared neither a White Night nor a Dark Horse, in the meantime, to change the equation of Mercy's life, as she's been leading it, in Malawi! We hear mainly platitudes and arms-length self-righteousness, which will not do for Mercy.
Malawi may prosper as a country as the years go by, but there is no assurance that today's poor little ones, already at the margin, will not continue to be at the margin and underprivileged as adults, if for no other reason than their sheer numbers. More importantly, the life-cycles of nation-states are framed in centuries; of humans, only in a fistful of decades (mostly three to seven). Let Mercy have her chance!
I first saw Mercy's picture only last night. Her eyes, it seemed, were telling the world two things:
1. I am not an abstraction, but flesh and blood.
2. Don't leave me where I am and don't make me lose my opportunity -- as surely as you will lose your interest.
Madonna: if they want further assurance, put it in writing that Mercy will visit and spend "quality" time in Malawi at least once a year until she is old enough (at 18) to decide her own future.
May wisdom prevail when Madonna takes her appeal to a higher court!
