Philosophical question

[John]

Would discovery of a body be a better outcome than never any trace found  at all ?

Absolutely jassi.  The discovery of remains would offer up a huge amount of forensic material and could very well reveal what happened to Madeleine.

[John]

Posters are reminded that debate should be conducted in an amicable manner.  Please avoid making unhelpful or derogatory comments or sly remarks towards other members. TY

[Venturi Swirl]

It's their iron self control that I found extraordinary. Their ability to describe what happened that night, to hold up pyjamas the same as those last seen on their daughter, to speak her name; all without showing emotion. That's amazing in my opinion.

The FLOs didn’t think their behaviour post disappearance was in any way unusual or “amazing”.  How do you account for that?

[Venturi Swirl]

I have seen people speaking years after a traumatic event who break down. It's not, in my opinion, something that can be controlled. Colin Sutton just said on TV that when watching 'Manhunt' he felt again the emotions he felt at the time. How were parents able to revisit their emotions but hide the effect? How were they able to speak their daughter's name and describe her without a tremour? In my opinion that's not something people can choose to do.

And yet when Gerry spoke movingly and with a tremor in his voice on Radio 4 recently he was mocked and derided in some quarters, including on this forum I believe.

[Venturi Swirl]

I don't pick fights. I debate- like most people my age.
I gave my opinion, and explanation about disclosure in the sense Jassi meant in the title.  If you have first hand knowledge of how Keiths mum really felt at the time of her death then please cite. Bearing in mind the question was not was she happy- it was about closure. Thank you.

If she was deeply unhappy and desperate to find the body of her little boy before she herself died, does that indicate to you she had achieved closure or not?

[jassi]

I would say partial closure, in that she knew her son was dead and so was not having to live in limbo, half expecting him to walk through the door at any moment.
Whether having an actual body would have helped her any is impossible to know.
She believed it would but might have felt differently if faced with the actuality.

[Venturi Swirl]

I would say partial closure, in that she knew her son was dead and so was not having to live in limbo, half expecting him to walk through the door at any moment.
Whether having an actual body would have helped her any is impossible to know.
She believed it would but might have felt differently if faced with the actuality.

There are hundreds of relatives of the Malaysian Airways flight who know that their loved ones are almost certainly lying at the bottom of the sea but who have no closure.  Giving a loved one a burial or send off of some description is done for a purpose and it is not simply an act of disposal.  It is, IMO, a necessary part of helping to achieve closure and getting on with life.

[jassi]

Yes, but it doesn't mean these people have no closure at all.
None of them believe their relatives will turn up alive and well.

[Venturi Swirl]

Yes, but it doesn't mean these people have no closure at all.
None of them believe their relatives will turn up alive and well.

Actually quite a few of them still believe their loved ones are alive.

[jassi]

Ah well, some people just refuse to face reality.

[Eleanor]

Ah well, some people just refuse to face reality.

How very unkind.

[jassi]

How very unkind.

Really? Would you care to explain ?

[Venturi Swirl]

Ah well, some people just refuse to face reality.

Some people can’t until the body is returned to them, which is why (to answer your question) it is preferable IMO from rnthe body to be found than to never be found.  In the MM case all the while there is no body there is the possibility that the child is still alive which means the parents can never rest until she is found. 

[jassi]

Some people can’t until the body is returned to them, which is why (to answer your question) it is preferable IMO from rnthe body to be found than to never be found.  In the MM case all the while there is no body there is the possibility that the child is still alive which means the parents can never rest until she is found.

I know that hence the question is it better to have a body rather than never knowing the outcome.

[Venturi Swirl]

I know that hence the question is it better to have a body rather than never knowing the outcome.

What do you think?  IMO the answer is pretty obvious, I’m surprised you felt it was worth asking.