The X-Files

Now that you know a little about George and his status, I think it's prudent that we provide our best theory on why George disappeared. Our own X-Files, if you will. Wayne touched on this subject in his "Context" post so I'll throw out there why, at least to our best collective discussions; we believe he remains unfound all these years.

Before I do that I want to reiterate some things Wayne said earlier about George. George was (and I believe still is) a really great person to know. Witty, urbane, kind, intelligent -- all the good qualities you'd expect your close friends to have. He was an extremely likeable guy and for most folk, if they hadn't met him before, would immediately take a shine to him. I hope that paints a clear enough picture of the type of individual we're discussing here.

So...on to the theory.

Wayne stated earlier in his last conversation with George, that George had come in touch with his spiritual side, which I think we all thought was great since he really didn't verbalize or demonstrate much of his beliefs during the time we knew him. We all grow as individuals over time and spirituality becomes more important the older we get -- it's a given variable of growing up. I've often heard that when people have a spiritual awakening, they take stock of their lives. People, places, activities, etc. are analyzed and the parts there of are either retained or discarded depending on how they fit with the new-found beliefs.

I recall during the last conversation I had with George that he was ecstatic with his self-discovery. He spoke of it for at least an hour and how he looked at things in a different light. It was refreshing yet puzzling to have this conversation with him. I was happy for him, yet there were many nuances that bothered me. Here's an example:

Me: Have you heard the new U2 album "Achtung Baby"? It's awesome!

George: No. I don't listen to that stuff any more. I threw all those CDs away.

Me: Umm...okay....

Achtung Baby? No dice.

So for the three of us, based on our last conversations with George, the nearest we can figure why George hasn't been heard from in over ten years is because we don't fit in with his enlightenment.

This has been a conundrum for us over the years. We were (and remain) good, decent, supportive people with high integrity that I think most folk would be honored to have as friends. This is not meant to be self-aggrandizing, but rather part of the question as to why George may have felt it necessary to sever ties. Even though our theory revolves around these conclusions, the truth is that we really don't know why. And that's just sad.

We're on the road for answers -- for our own enlightenment.

The truth is out there.