For fifty years, they didn't know if each other were alive or dead. Families, torn apart at a moment in history, anguished for decades about the fate of their loved ones. The war ended, but the hatred and mistrust of their two countries continued. Thousands of Korean families remained broken for the next five decades.

Time passes; memories fade. To the rest of the world, the tragic casualties of the Korean War became a footnote in history books. To the families of the missing, however, it continued to be the single most defining event in their lives.

And then it happened. Social, economic and political forces came together in such a way that the impasse became negotiable. The broken families became a symbol of the division that stood in the way of progress. Though they were, no doubt, being used somewhat as pawns of the political process at work, two hundred families realized the dream of a lifetime last month. One hundred South Koreans flew north to Pyongyang and 100 North Koreans flew south to Seoul, where they found and met with loved ones who had been long lost to them.

Parents and children; sisters and brothers; husbands and wives. They fell into each other's arms. They wept. They exchanged stories about what had become of them over the years.

The meetings were more public than private. Indeed they represented far more than the raw emotions that were brought by the individuals involved. But the eyes of the world looking on could not penetrate the capsulized reality that these people felt so keenly. They were, at once, so very tragic yet so very lucky.

We families of missing American servicemen know the pain these people have suffered. We can only imagine their joy at having found who they had lost so many years ago. Perhaps, one day, if the winds of change continue to blow in a favorable direction, a few of us might be so lucky as to find that piece of our broken heart. That piece that was taken one day, a long time ago so abruptly, with no explanation, leaving in its place just the cold dark of silence.