There are days when I feel blessed and others when I realize I have kown tragedy. Most of my tragedies happned when I was younger and are now long past. More often than not as I get older I hear of others who are younger being touched by loss and devastation. My heart goes out to these unfortunate. I feel we can all do something to reach out and touch whether it is to offer time, words, food, a kleenx.
I thought I had seen the worst except for such horrors as the holocaust and some of the situations I worked with as a counselor-- such as the child who was beaten until every bone in his young body was broken and the boy whose father tried to choke him, the boy whose face was burned and terribly scarred, the girl who was sexually abused- and on and on the cases go-And yet I think it was when we came here that I ran into the tragedy that has had the most impact on me.
The tragedy happened to a person who has become a very good friend- I will call him Paul -Paul lost both of his children before his eyes over the holidays. Both were under the age of six. A father and young executive he traveling with his family on an icy high way when another person slid into the ditch. Due to the kind of person he is, he got out to help the lady. Meawhile, her little girl got in his car while he went to get something from her vehicle. As he did, a truck coming down the road, hit his car, instantly killling a five year old and two, two years olds, and severly impairing the mother who never recovered neurologically.. I have gone over and over this in my mind. Post traumatic stress was the result to the man who was sailing along in his job and had the world in his pocket.
PTSD is when something happens that is beyond one's ability to handle-When the horror is too great for the mind to deal with what has happnened. Some recover over a great amount of time, but it can ruin lives. The Tsunami we saw caused this among thousands and we see it in soldiers. What can we who are blessed do? We can offer our hearts over and over-We can listen, send meals, offer to be a safe person, dry the eyes of the weeping, look for that person's strenghts over time and suggest how they might want to proceded with their lives. We can listen, send prayers, send jokes when the time is right, we can love and love and love them and let them know of our compassion. Learn what tit is they like and give freely.of those things. Be patient and be avaislble, reassure their worth and don't say "get over it." The pain and horror are there, but if we support unconditionally, we are likely to see them start to live again and then who knows? I am so proud of our friend. God didn't do it. It happened and God is there to help and to help us help. Bless my friend who has taught me how blessed I am.templeranch.wordpress.com
