Project 1

Albert Camus was a journalist, political activist, short story author, and, despite his denials, a philosopher. In 1957, at the age of 44, he received a Nobel Prize for his literature work. Camus was known for his ideas of absurdism, especially that life had no ultimate meaning despite humans constantly searching for the meaning. When Camus started writing, he was reported to have stated that “to die in a car crash is the most absurd.” In 1960, at the age of 46, Albert Camus tragically died in a car accident, only proving the absurdity of life. 

 What would Albert Camus think about the epidemic of missing children? Albert Camus would likely view the epidemic of missing children as a tragic illustration of human existence, where suffering exists without explanation and society often responds with inaction or silence. In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus states, “There is no love of life without despair about life” (Camus, 1942), acknowledging that despair is a natural part of life but also necessary to be able to truly value it.

 In the United States, an estimated 460,000 children are reported missing yearly, according to the FBI. Albert Campus would likely respond to the epidemic of missing children with an overwhelming sense of moral urgency. Albert Camus believed in the absurdity of life and the human tendency to find purpose in an empty world. In order to reduce the total number of missing children each year, Camus would support appropriate education on how to prevent kidnappings. “Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured, but we can reduce the number of tortured children,” Camus wrote, emphasizing the suffering of children as a particularly disturbing aspect of life.

In the novel “The Plague,” a town is overcome by an uncontrollable epidemic. While the novel is about a plague spreading throughout a city, Camus uses the epidemic as a metaphor for human suffering. Camus’s true focus was on how people responded to the suffering he admired: those who, despite life being absurd and unfair at times, could respond to suffering with love, support, and a sense of duty. Camus believed that in times of crisis, humanity has the opportunity to demonstrate its capacity for empathy and solidarity. By responding to suffering with love, support, and a sense of duty, we can rise above ourselves and make a positive impact on those in need.  He wrote in “The Plague,” “What's true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves” (The Plague, 1947). Applying this to the epidemic of missing children, Camus would argue that in the face of such senseless suffering, it is our duty as human beings to show compassion and support for those affected. We can help prevent future tragedies and provide families of missing children hope by uniting as a community to raise awareness and take action.

 According to a 2002 federal study on missing children, 99.8 percent of missing children were located or returned home alive (OIG Audit Report 09-08, n.d., p. 1). While the recovery rate of missing children is fortunately very high, it still leaves 0.2 percent of children that are missing long term or are never found. Albert Camus would view the tragedy of missing children that are never found as the most painful absurdity of life. He would also likely use it to prove his thoughts that the world allows innocent people to suffer without reason and that justice and understanding may never happen. The absence of closure in cases like these would only serve to further highlight the cruel randomness of existence.

 These cases of missing children where there's no closure, no justice served, reflect the reality of a world that offers no meaning or fairness. Silence in the face of troubling problems such as children going missing is devastating and revealing to how a lot of the world responds to serious problems and other humans suffering. Despite the absence of answers in some of these cases, Camus would agree that we should not surrender to the unfairness of life, even though it offers no promises of problems being resolved. He would urge society to resist giving up and to continue searching, supporting, and remembering. Responding with compassion and empathy to suffering is something Camus admired. The ultimate act of defiance against a meaningless existence is to find purpose in the face of absurdity. We can make our own meaning to reduce suffering in the world by being kind, compassionate, and supportive to others.

Ultimately, Albert Camus pushes us to confront life's harsh realities with compassion and bravery rather than hopelessness. Camus spent his life writing about the absurdity of innocent suffering in a world with no clear answers, and the epidemic of missing children, especially those who are never found, confronts us with this reality. According to Camus, however, this situation is exactly where our accountability starts. 

We are not helpless even when life seems pointless. When we choose to care, act, and support one another, we create a kind of meaning that defies silence. In a society that often looks the other way, Camus would encourage us to look toward one another. To get past absurdity and reclaim our humanity, we must engage in silent acts of resistance such as remembering the deceased, consoling the bereaved and attempting to protect those who are weak.