Friday, October 05, 2012

What Would You Do If Your Daughter (Sister, Wife, Mother) Went Missing

I read about this in the ADN when Valerie first disappeared and was mildly disturbed.  I stopped at Granite Creek campground on my way back from Hope a month ago.

  It's a beautiful spot.  Lots of green and trees along the creek.  It's close enough to the Seward Highway that you can hear the traffic if the wind is going the right way.

But it's one of those places where you can escape from the everyday and surround yourself in nature.

I stopped there because I knew that Valerie disappeared there.  I walked around thinking about people disappearing.  About times when my kids weren't home when they were supposed to be.








Then I got a comment on a post yesterday.  I'm not usually sympathetic to people using comments to post something totally unrelated.

"Great post.
Sorry to hijack your comment section. Post and forward, if you don't mind. Missing person search on Sunday.
http://callanx.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/search-on-sunday/
Thanks."
It takes you to a website of Girdwood snowboarder Callan Chythlook-Sifsof who's aiming for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. 

There are too many women missing in the world.  Too many abused and beaten.  There are so many ills in the world that need our attention, yet we can't focus just on them.  We need to live and enjoy life as well.  Our lives are busy.  But we all need to put aside some time to help make the world a better place.  Like helping Valerie's family. 

We don't know what happened.  If someone else was involved, if she simply got lost and/or hurt.  But you know this family is still hurting badly.  It always seems so far away, until it happens to you.  What would you do?  It doesn't have to be this issue, but if you aren't giving time to others, in some small way, please do.  I'm guessing, most readers here are already giving back more than their fair share.  Thanks.

2 comments:

  1. As a mother with many children, I walk the line of being cautious without seeming too paranoid or, after being put in a remote place by my husband with a nasally, "Nothing is going to happen!" seeming too casual while trying to act like nothing phases me.

    We can only try to prevent. We must explain to our kids why, even as adults, that groups are better, to always tell someone where they are going, that sort of thing. This is not just for abductions, but this is also so people know where to look. What if you just got hurt? It's possible in some places to get mauled by an animal or to just get lost. Someone close to you needs to know where to look for you!

    It's so easy to try to rationalize that the abducted person had it coming in some way, that the person was related to someone in power, that they used drugs and angered a dealer, etc., but there are enough terrible things that happen that don't require a motive.

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  2. I used to train my dogs for search and rescue. I've been on too many heartbreaking searches, both wilderness and urban disaster, to not know the kind of anxiety these people are feeling. My heart goes out to everyone involved. Well-trained search dogs are their best bet; have they tried that?

    ReplyDelete

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