Around 1:30 last night I got a very welcome voicemail from my parents with good news; after a complex combination of digital and traditional investigation, law enforcement was able to track down and recover my missing cousin. While the recovery road ahead is likely to be both lengthy and arduous, she has that chance where a great many in her place do not.
Our family was appalled, frankly, at the initial lack of effort and attention that we perceived on the part of local and federal law enforcement, but the situation was explained to us by a friend of my father’s. Apparently there are hundreds of such situations per day in this country, and a high percentage turn out to be false alarms. What we believed to be indifference, then, was nothing more than a grimly comprehensible form of triage. We’re very fortunate that through a variety of contacts – and the assistance of many of you – we were able to flag this as sufficiently high priority to command the sort of attention that got results.
Which brings me to the main point of this particular post: I want to personally thank each and every one of you that took the time to check in over blogs, IM, IRC, Twitter, email, phone, or with comments here. Your suggestions, support, and assistance have been invaluable during a very trying time for both myself and my family. That support is appreciated and will not be forgotten.
It was a very timely reminder that as much as the internet can make evil things possible, so too can it muster support and goodwill more efficiently than just about any other medium. Thank you again – all of you – sincerely.
With that I’ll be returning to my regular posting schedule shortly. I have to hop in a car and head for Armonk within minutes, but look for my thoughts on yesterday’s HP discussions as well as an initial read on this afternoon’s IBM Open Source conference discussions.
