Dear LPG, 

Did you know that there are so many national celebrations attributed to each day that it is hard to keep up?  We all know that some are trivial while others are really thought provoking and the ones that are poignant to one person can be thought of as quite trivial to another.

Trying to keep up with which happens on which particular day could really do our heads in, but I recently found a day of acknowledgement that amongst other things, we need to be aware of today, it is the International Day of the Disappeared.  

I think that this may well be one of those days that few of us will relate to unless we know, or know of, someone who has just vanished.  I have a friend whose niece went missing over two decades ago.   She and her aunt were very close and, although she was an adult when she said goodbye one morning, left as usual and just disappeared, there are always questions about why she left and where she went that remain unanswered.  After all this time my friend tells me that there is a degree of acceptance, but those questions never really go away.
I have read that hundreds of thousands of people are reported as missing to the police every year in the UK alone, and although the majority are found within a week of disappearing, I cannot imagine the anguish and hurt that is cause to those left behind. 

Some people go missing by choice while others don’t, but I found some information about what to do if you are one of those left behind, and some alternatives open to those who feel that it is so bad that opting to become a missing person intentionally feels like the only option.  But my message is to all the people that have not been part of such an experience.

No plan is fool-proof, but perhaps this should be a day to just look around at our loved ones and appreciate them just a little more than we do.  At my age, and I suspect the age of most of the people reading this web message, we have had a lot of time to be part of and observe life as it happens, and it is easy to see with hindsight how much we do take our loved ones for granted.  

I think that perhaps a ‘celebration’ of the day should include talking and listening to those around us more closely if we are lucky enough to have someone around for you to talk to.  Taking the time to remember those neighbours who would appreciate a phone call, or a short visit would also be a good tradition to adopt and having a word in the ear of anyone who you are close enough to, who you think might be taking someone close to them for granted might help too.

Most of us probably think that having someone disappear will never happen to us but, perhaps today and every day is also a day to appreciate the people that are around us a little more; a day to start doing or saying something special to remind them that they are special and invaluable, and a day to work harder at taking what they are feeling into consideration, so that we do our best to minimise the risk of ever becoming a part of this statistic. 

ES, Rushey Green

ES found some related information…

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