Welcome to the Madhouse

Now, "most likely" doesn't mean "guaranteed." Stranger kidnappings are very rare, but not nonexistent. More prosaically, the person could be dead, or unconscious in a hospital.

But the most likely scenario is that the person could choose to go back to their family of origin if they wanted to, and they don't want to. The most likely scenario is that they don't want to be under their family's control. And the fact that their family turned this decision into a "missing person" case is further evidence that the decision was an entirely reasonable and rational one.

If you say this, you will be called a horrible monster. You will be told that you're heartless for not caring about a vulnerable person who could be in danger! Or you'll be told, "Okay, maybe this person left of their own volition, but someone should at least check and make sure, just in case" -- which presumes that alerting an escapee's abusive family to their whereabouts is an outcome with no downsides. And if you say that, you'll be told you're cruel and heartless for "assuming with no evidence" that those poor, suffering, heartbroken parents are abusive. But here's an easy tip: Controlling someone's medical choices is inherently abusive. So if they're trying to control the person's medical choices (forced drugging, involuntary commitment, conservatorship, or just using "off their meds" as a reason the person needs to be controlled), then you're not assuming anything with no evidence -- you know for a fact that they're abusive!

To be clear: I said "young adults," but this is also by and large true of runaway minors. Many, many "missing and exploited children" are just young people who made the rational choice to escape their abusive parents and couldn't wait for the magic birthday to do so.

Parents generally have a legal right to reclaim their runaway minor children (to be extremely clear, this is a bad law and I oppose it). But there's a specific way that parents use the pretext of a "missing persons case" to end-run around their adult children's right to leave. If you went to the police station and said "My 20 year old child moved out of my house and won't return my calls," they'd say "Well, she has a right to do that." But if you say, "No, she's VULNERABLE and has SPECIAL NEEDS and is OFF HER MEDS and is in MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS and she TURNED OFF HER PHONE TRACKER," then suddenly you can have a search party out looking for someone who does not want to talk to you, let alone live with you.

I really just have to summarize Thomas's entire life:

He was in a committed relationship with a male swan named Henry for 18-24 years before a female swan named Henrietta showed up and mated with Henry.

Thomas was initially jealous of the pair and attacked them, breaking 2 of the 5 eggs Henrietta had laid. However, once the remaining eggs hatched, Thomas warmed up to them and helped raise them.

Henry couldn't fly because of an injured wing, so Thomas taught the cygnets how to fly.

When they needed to reduce the goose population in the pond where Thomas and the swans lived, they dyed Thomas's feathers red so he wouldn't be separated from Henry.

Henry, Henrietta, and Thomas remained in their happy throuple for years and raised 68 cygnets before Henry died in 2009. After Henry's death, Henrietta found another swan and flew away, leaving Thomas alone.

Thomas finally met and mated with a female goose in 2011 and had his own babies. However, another goose named George stole them and raised them himself.

As Thomas grew elderly and blind, he was relocated to a wildlife center where he raised orphaned cygnets.

His caretaker at the center described him as "pretty high maintenance."

Thomas died in 2018 at the age of around 40. He had a funeral that included a small coffin and a procession that was led by a bagpiper. He was buried under the stone where Henry was buried, the two finally reunited in death.

From Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising

I will never forgive the artists of the Thrawn Trilogy comics for ignoring Zahn’s writing and giving Mara a skintight sleeveless catsuit.

Did you forget about her iconic tiny blaster???

The one that she conceals in her sleeves??