Father's Day for those with Missing Loved One's

Today is the day set aside for telling Dad how much we love and appreciate him.  For most, today is a fantastic day full of hugs and kisses and ties and homemade cards.  But for a lot people there is a silent sadness.  Father's missing their children, many missing their fathers.  Those in this situation sit silently by, watching as their pain goes unnoticed.  The world of the Missing is sometimes forgotten about and sensitivity can have a way of evading even the most well mannered of our family and friends. 

This is where Hope and Patience come into play.  By now, you have had to learn and develop coping strategies that you might never have had to tap into.  Hope and patience is what you have.  Some handle it better than others do and only you can gauge whether you are up to your own standard of coping.  You are strong for carrying on.  Your missing loved one might not be able to say it.  So let me.  Thank you!  Thank you for not giving up!  Thank you for supporting their memory!  Thank you for reminding other families of hope.  Thank you for your kind heart and loving patience you have for the women in your life.  

To all of the missing father's out there.  Happy Father's Day!  You are missed, you are loved and you are important.  The search is not over and we will continue to look for you and pray that you come home soon.

To all of the father's missing their children.  Happy Father's Day.  You are truly important and integral to the search for your missing child.  You continue to show that your child (whether adult or a little one) is important, missed and waited for.

I hope that today will be not only a day of celebration but also a day of appreciation and remembrance. 

A Poem for the Missing

A Poem for the Missing

The Great Eternal Silence By Aquinas T. Duffy

1 Missing in the darkness, vanished without a trace, with only the memories and photographs, to fill an empty place. 2 Frequent prayer and fervent cries, is there anyone there? But the only sound was the silent eternal fanfare. 3 For a long time its deafening sound subdued by a path through lost and found. 4 Laughter and sorrow, anguish and grief, all the moments of a life but with no relief. 5 Everything and nothing one within and between all, gentle, loving, pervading, the eternal silence falls.

(The above was written in June 2000, arising out of the disappearance of my cousin , Aengus and the setting up of a Missing Irish People website. Sometimes, we do not hear answers to our prayers, only apparent silence. But within that silence, there is always more to be discovered.)