We're all aware of Natalee Holloway, Laci Peterson, Madeline Mccain and Elizabeth Smart.  How many of us are aware of Hector Noel Rivera, Amy Billig, Audrey Lyn Nerenberg and Charles Lee Toliver? They are missing persons too.  Sadly, most of us aren't aware of who they are, when and where they went missing or that they are still missing.  We know what happened to Laci and Elizabeth.  We're pretty sure we know what happened to Natalee and one day, we may find out what happened to Madeline.  What about the thousands of other missing people in the world today?  Are they less deserving of our attention? 
 

Missing people are a serious issue in society.  They aren't all pretty white girls from middle or upper-class families.  Some,more than we're aware of, are minorities from the inner-city.  Others come from working-class families in small towns.  All are missed, all are loved, all have someone looking for them.  They all left behind people who go to bed each evening wondering where their loved one is.  

Some of the people I mentioned previously went missing before missing persons cases grabbed national headlines.  Some went missing long after.  Why are their stories somehow less important than the stories that did grab our attention?  Admittedly, the Laci Peterson case was almost tailor made for our tabloid style way of life.  It had adultery, a very pregnant, very pretty missing woman, a reasonably attractive husband and more twists and turns than the streets of San Francisco.  We, in our never-ending desire to see the skeletons in everyone's closets dragged out into the harsh camera glare; ate it up.   We should have been concerned about Laci and her unborn child, but we should be just as concerned with the other missing people as well.

There are sites devoted entirely to spotlighting missing people.  These sites feature thousands of the missing with no regard to race, social standing or anything else.  They are run and sometimes staffed by volunteers who want to make a difference in the world.  One can find them quite easily, they have names like The Doe Network, The Charley Project, Project Jason and Web Sleuths. The people who frequent these sites invest countless hours of their time in to trying to find the missing.  They care about each and every one of them, not just the ones who by some stroke of luck end up on the cover of a national magazine.   

Imagine being the mother of a missing child. You child is gone, you don't know where to look or to whom to turn.  You see another missing child in all the headlines.  How would you feel?  Would you think that the world only cares about certain types of missing people? Would you feel as if your loved one wasn't as special as the one who grabbed the nation's attention?  Many mothers and fathers face those feelings each and every day.  No matter how loudly they yell, no matter how hard they try, we turn a blind eye to their missing loved one.

Resources are not what they should be for the missing.  Time and money are both limited.  What is unlimited is the compassion of the common man.  We may not be investigators or police officers, but there are enough of us out there and you know what they say about the power of numbers.  What government agencies lack in funding and time, we can make up with in sheer tenacity.  Many a missing persons case has been solved by your average citizen doing what's right.  We should all be concerned about the plight of the missing.  Some day, that tragedy might strike close to home.   

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