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The Blue Knight: On a Quest to Save the Children
| Article
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20356 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1992 |
1,348 Words |
| Author
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Richard Nowitz and Varda Avnisan
Richard Nowitz and Varda Avnisan are a husband and wife team
specializing in travel and editorial photography. Nowitz is a
contributing photographer to National Geographic World and has
produced several coffee table and guide books on countries
around the world; Avnisan writes natural history and
nonfiction books for children. |
Sir Edward, the Blue Knight, tapped the sword on the boy's shoulders, looked him in the eyes, and said: "I knight you into the Divine Order of Good Knights. And I ask that you teach all the children for ever and always to stay safe and identify the tricks that strangers use."
The six-year-old is enchanted. His sparkling eyes are raised in wonderment to the six-foot-five knight. The charismatic knight, wearing his elaborate blue armor, shakes the boy's hand and presents him with the certificate of a Good Knight. Now that he is charged with a mission, the junior knight must go forth and spread the message. The knighting ceremony has concluded. And the next child in line comes forward.
The Blue Knight is Edward Jagen, a 42 year-old retired D.C. police investigator. His crusade is safety for children. In his fifteen years with the police department, Jagen investigated many cases of missing and abused children. He spoke with parents and children to find out what they perceived to be the typical child molester. He also spoke with those who molested and murdered children and found that all molesters used the same basic tricks to lure children. He concluded that there was a great need to educate parents and children to recognize about ten different tricks. Knowing them could make the difference between life and death.
When Jagen retired from the police force, he traded his uniform in for that of Sir Edward, the Blue Knight. From then on he made it his personal quest--his life's mission--to instruct children about how to protect themselves and their peers from potential abductors and child molesters.
In the summer of 1990, with no financial resources and an all volunteer staff, he founded the National Missing Child Search Society and its Good Knight Child Safety Awareness Program. Furthermore, he pledged to reach twenty thousand children in Maryland by the end of the next year. Jagen had well surpassed his goal when he knighted Willard Scott as the twenty-seven thousandth Good Knight at Maryland's Renaissance Festival in the fall of 1991.
In order to get the message across in a nonthreatening way, Jagen uses the power of words and fairy tales. In his first book, A Good Knight Story, he portrays himself as Sir Edward, the Blue Knight, whose divine quest is to save the missing children of the Kingdom of Eagleton. His journey takes him on a path filled with perils and obstacles, and at its conclusion he gets the message out: Be aware of
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