Taken

Missing Persons Posters
Originally uploaded by Mike Caine

Did you know that 2300 people go missing each day in the United States alone?

I know -it's difficult to comprehend abstract statistics so think of it this way: that's more people than the entire population of my hometown.

Before I went to bed last night, a breaking news story flashed across the television screen, announcing that a body had been found entombed in a basement wall of a Yale University Medical Center lab, which is where bride-to-be Annie Le was last seen.

My heart breaks for her fiance and family, as yesterday was to have been her wedding day. Now, instead of her fiance watching her walk down the aisle veiled in white lace, the next time he sees her, she may be lying in a casket draped in a funeral shroud.

When I went on Flickr to look for a pic to use in this post, I was overwhelmed by the number of missing posters that pop up if you type in the phrase "missing person".

There was the smiling face of a young girl from the Belfast area, who's been missing for over five years now; this summer marks her 30th birthday.

Another photo caused me to do a double take because the guy in the picture bears a striking resemblance to my old boyfriend Jarrod; what's even creepier is that like Jarrod, this kid was also an aspiring actor in NYC.

2300 people. That number includes infants, toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults, adults, parents, and grandparents. It includes brides, students, actors, teachers, carpenters, athletes, mechanics, lawyers, and cooks.

We only hear about a fraction of these cases - like Annie Le, Natalie Halloway, Madeline McCann, and Patrick McDermott - but there are so many others we'll never hear about.

The number of missing persons has increased over 400% since the 1980s - why is that? Is it because more people are reported missing or is it because our society fosters perverse behaviors and therefore the number of freaks and sickos out there is proportionally increasing?

I'm not sure if I want to know the answer to that one.

In the past couple of years, we've also heard remarkable tales of the missing who have returned to their loved ones after years of absence. Shawn Hornbeck, Ben Ownby, and most recently, Jaycee Dugard, all returned to their families after much hope was lost; I hope each can go on and still find beauty in life after such a horrid ordeal.

So, what's La Pointe of It All? Honestly, I don't know. I just couldn't let today go by without thinking about these missing persons so I guess my parting words to you are this: take a moment and send good thoughts out into the world in hopes that some of these missing peoples will come home.