Life, Love & Death: Part 3
The final message was from Tom, a Vox neighbor. I have copied his story just for convenience, but it is of course on his blog...
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You know, it’s easy to write a story.
I can think up a character and put him in all kinds of situations. Just
like my last entry, I can write a story where the character gets picked
on and then finds the inner strength to overcome it. The thing is,
though, no matter what I write, that character doesn't exist and every
situation that he gets into, every feeling that he has is totally make
believe. There is no physical attachment between me and the character.
It's not real life.
On the other hand, real life hit me in the
gut this morning after I got to work. I started my normal routine of
checking e-mails and following up on items that I had been working on
yesterday when an older woman that I work with brought a sympathy card
to me. One of the guy's mothers had passed away and, like normally
happens, a card is passed around for everyone to sign. Mary was
standing there waiting for me to sign the card when she whispered
something that I couldn't quite understand. I work in a loud factory
and it is often hard to hear, so I finished signing the card and turned
to face her so I could pay close attention to what she was saying,
"What did you say?"
She said, "My brother was killed on Saturday."
I
blinked in disbelief, not expecting this kind of news at all,
especially from the person who was passing around a sympathy card for
someone else. I can honestly say that my heart started hurting when she
told me that. In a clumsy, stuttering voice I told her that I was sorry
and she started telling me what happened. Her eyes watered up and she
told me how a 17 year old boy swerved off the road and then jerked back
on, sending his car across the road head on into her brother's car. Her
brother was killed instantly and the young boy died on the way to the
hospital.
What do you say at a time like that? "I'm sorry"
just doesn't seem like enough, but that's all that I found myself
saying. She managed to fake a little smile and said, "Thank you." Then
she was walking away, off to get the sympathy card signed by someone
else.
I have more respect for that woman than she will ever
know. Here she was, grieving over the loss of her brother, and she was
doing every thing she could to comfort someone else in their time of
grief. It humbled me and I have been thinking about it ever since. Life
can be so unpredictable... and so painful.
Comments
Oh, on the last post I forgot to add have you ever seen the movie "13 conversations about one thing" ? It is very much in theme with these posts, it is a great movie. You should watch it.