Found: Lost… Person?
One day, as I was walking towards one of my classes, I began to reflect upon my life in High School. I thought about things I regularly experienced that I no longer experience. As I was reflecting one man stood out in particular to me. I don’t know his name, or very much about him at all, but I saw him very frequently. He was someone who I often saw standing at the intersection I often stopped at when I was driving home from work. This man, like many other in Austin, was at the intersection panhandling for help due to his lack of stable housing. He never approached the cars, or did much, but he was often there- wanting some kind of help from a kind stranger. Although I saw many people like him everyday, this man stood out to me because he had a dog. I don’t know why the dog caught my attention more than the man, and I’m sure it’s not good that the simple act of having a dog made me want to help him more, but it did. However, it was that feeling of sympathy towards the dog that made me think. Why do we have more sympathy for animals than we do humans?
If I were to find a lost dog on the street I wouldn’t just leave it there. I would probably take the dog with me, check it’s collar, knock on doors near where I found it, and do what I could to bring that dog back to it’s home. In certain cases, I would even let the dog stay at my house while I put up “Found Dog” posters in hopes of finding the dog’s home. If I would go through all that effort for an animal why don’t I do the same for humans?
These were the thoughts in my head when I began volunteering at Miracle Messages. I figured that if I would be willing to call people with the potential that they could find a lost dog a home I could do the same for actual people. I also figured that since I was able to find and stalk my ex-boyfriend’s sister’s girlfriend’s best friend on the internet I could surely find the loved ones I was trying to find. I was right about one thing- I am very good at finding people on the internet. I was able to locate the loved ones that these people were missing, and find some form of contact information. Where I didn’t realize I would struggle as much was in the process of contacting the loved one I found.
If I receive a call and don’t recognize the number nine times out of ten I won’t answer. I am even less likely to answer if I don’t recognize the area code attached to the number calling me. This same idea is carried towards the people I am reaching out to. When I call someone, usually someone in the bay area, with my Texas area code, there’s not a high frequency of people who will answer the phone. Normally I won’t let this bother me, anyone who knows me can tell you I’m a very stubborn person. I am trying to find a person their home and their loved ones, a voicemail is nothing. However, there was one experience, one time that left me feeling defeated.
Within 30 minutes I was able to find the loved one on Whitepages, I found his phone number and information that verified he was who I was looking for. I make the call, it’s ringing and all I can think about is how exciting it would be if this time I really made that difference. It goes to voicemail, as usual, except this time it’s different. This time the voicemail box is full. I can’t leave a message. At first, that doesn’t stop me, I send a quick text thinking about how excited that man would be if he gets put back in contact with his loved one, his old friend. As a response I get a text, not one from the man, one saying that I texted a landline. As the stubborn girl I am I call 3 more times. Nothing. Later that week I call trying other times- maybe the man I was looking for just wasn’t home when I called. There is never an answer to my calls.
The failure isn’t really what bothers me though. This one hurt because I was so close to helping someone- so close to putting a person in need, a person who just wants to speak with his old friend, a person who is alone- find that connection they needed. But instead of just being told no and having closure, there was just an absence of the man that I’m trying to find. I can only imagine the hope that was given to the man trying to find his friend. I can only think about how after a certain period of waiting for a response, he’s disappointed and no longer hopeful.
These people are much more than dogs, they’re people who are at probably the most vulnerable point in their lives. However, instead of being treated like so they are often treated as a nuisance. We are so willing to help out “man’s best friend” but choose to ignore the man himself. If a dog is treated better than a man, what does that say about our society’s values?
