Missing: People Who Just Walk Away

I once was lost, but now am found..........

"All he has to do is call me and say he is all right, and we wouldn't have to hound him like a fugitive

Instances of someone intentionally disappearing and never again contacting family are extremely rare, she said.

In one case, a man missing for decades was found on a West Texas ranch where he'd gone to live his cowboy dream.

In another instance, a woman had left her family in the South to take a new life and work at Wal-Mart in the North.

"It seems like most of them are men, and they just want to be with a different family or have a completely different lifestyle," Workman said.

... assuming a new identity.

When confronted, he told the deputy he preferred the freedom of panhandling to the stresses of his previous life.

"I ain't lost. I'm doing fine," a smiling McAdams, 70, told the Chronicle last week at an assisted-living center.

Quote:

"All he has to do is call me and say he is all right, and we wouldn't have to hound him like a fugitive

Quote:

Instances of someone intentionally disappearing and never again contacting family are extremely rare, she said.

Quote:

In one case, a man missing for decades was found on a West Texas ranch where he'd gone to live his cowboy dream.

In another instance, a woman had left her family in the South to take a new life and work at Wal-Mart in the North.

Quote:

"It seems like most of them are men, and they just want to be with a different family or have a completely different lifestyle," Workman said.

Quote:

... assuming a new identity.

Quote:

When confronted, he told the deputy he preferred the freedom of panhandling to the stresses of his previous life.

Quote:

"I ain't lost. I'm doing fine," a smiling McAdams, 70, told the Chronicle last week at an assisted-living center.

Thanks for posting this, Edgar, although I found it quite sad.

The above snippets of sentences and phrases from the article stood out in my mind. They generally paint a picture with a similar pattern.

They tell me that a certain number of these missing people are unhappy and disappointed with their former lives. They are looking for escape and the hope of something "better", which may, or may not, exist.

Some of these folks may actually be suffering from depression, which is clouding their judgement and making them feel that they are in a hopeless situation. Some may just be looking for "change" from an endless routine that they can't seem to break.

The tragedy of it are the family that they leave behind in their wake, never knowing (in some cases) of what the heck happened to their loved one. It's too bad that the paths of communication seems to have been totally severed, otherwise, they may be able to talk out what exactly the problem is.

To me, this is what it all boils down to with the situations where people are walking away voluntarily. They were unable to face the family that they intended to leave behind, resulting in no closure for either side.

I would think this is the worst situation - not knowing why, or what has happened. With the exception of violent relationships, one should be able to tell family why one is leaving.

In the cases of men (who seem to be in the majority) walking away from their wife and kids, they are abandoning their financial responsibility to them, and should be held accountable. Simply walking away and starting "afresh" (perhaps with a new family) is not acceptable.

Sometimes life presents challenges which can seem to be overwhelming at times, but to simply walk away when things get a little tough is not going to help. One can merely transfer the troubles from one situation to another, because the orgin of the problem may lie within.

[...]one such person told me, is, "I left my family. I could go home to them and have a job and everything. But, I just didn't fit in." He was so uncomfortably out of place, he had to leave. [...]

Lost in space
Lost in time
Everything is lost and found
Over and over again