Pay Attention

For over 20 days now the New York police have been looking for 14 year old Avonte Oquendo, a mute autistic child who ran out of his school and hasn't been seen since. I can't even imagine the pain that his mother and father are going through, not being able to find your child, not knowing if they are hungry,cold or hurt. I work in the city and every day I get on the train and I walk past Avonte's picture with his large expressive eyes. Missing...............I look around like he might be somewhere in the vicinity, all I see are the majority of people on their phones with blank stares listening to music or texting. How can you help if your not paying attention? On the national center for missing and exploited children the most recent comprehensive national study for the number of missing children estimated in 1999, approximately 800,000,children younger that 18 were reported missing every year. Some are runaways, some have been kidnapped by relatives or strangers and some like Avonte are simply missing. It is our job as a society to make sure our children are safe so I'm asking everyone to take some time off from their phones, look around, be active in life for real not just on the screen. I pray that Avonte is found safe, I hope all of our children are safe.