April 13, 2004

Searching

"She left behind her horse, her dental retainer and other prized possessions."

It would be a wonderful opening line for a novel...if I weren't quoting it from the Doe Network.

I came across the Doe site during my normal lunchtime browsing. Its concept intrigued me. Actually, it always has; my interest in shows like CSI and Without A Trace stems from the same source, as does my interest in genealogy. Life is a mystery - who we are, where we come from, where we go during our lives, and what clues we leave behind on our journey, for others to later find and puzzle over.

There's obviously a much darker side to the mystery in cases like Rachael's. The horrible sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach, lasting every day, every month, every year since the event itself. The not knowing.

People can't just disappear off the face of the planet. And yet, they do. Even in small states, small towns, like mine. And when it's in a small community, it becomes all the more horrific - because the community is vividly personal. It's not a formless mass of humanity, from which all types of crimes slink out into the world. It's faces and names that you know, neighbors with names and families and shared histories. It's friends and their siblings, and the cousins of colleagues.

Someone, somewhere, knows the answer. That knowledge is almost as frightening as the event itself.

Posted at April 13, 2004 08:58 PM in Social Order
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