Looking around the crowded room I realized that I was not alone. Hearing
story after story about how people were dealing with their grief of a lost
spouse, a lost mother, a lost father gave me hope in the midst of my grief of a
father in law who passed away a couple of months prior. I listened
intently to the speaker at the front. He should know a lot about grief, he
built his own centre to guide those who have gone through any kind of life
transition into and through their grieving experiences. The details are a
little fuzzy but as I recall he finished up the question and answer time he went
into a personal story about someone criticizing him for the way he approached
grief by “saying hello before saying goodbye.” The person criticizing him
thought someone should “just move on” in their life. Get over the grief and move
forward. “How can someone just ‘move on’ from losing someone near and dear to
them?” I thought to myself. Then the presenter got really passionate about
his response. He said, “I got mad at this person, mind you I restrained myself
from ripping a strip off of them, but I got mad. I was so mad I wrote a book
(which subsequently became a bestseller). “I could have gotten bitter at this
person,” the presenter said, yet I chose this situation to help me become
better.
Bitter or better… these are the choices
that face us when we receive bad news. Granted, many chose not to feel
anything and ignore their feelings or circumstances by “just moving on” with
their lives. I have realized that I cannot merely “move on” from the grief
that young girls face every day experience of being trafficked for greed and
personal pleasure. That’s why I want to do something about
it.
Go to https://ratanak.org/secure/donate.cfm to find out
how you can be involved with my “Run for Ratanak” later this year at the
Saskatchewan Marathon.
And the next time you
experience loss in your life, don’t just ‘move on’ become better rather than
bitter by helping someone with your anger rather than tarring someone down.
story after story about how people were dealing with their grief of a lost
spouse, a lost mother, a lost father gave me hope in the midst of my grief of a
father in law who passed away a couple of months prior. I listened
intently to the speaker at the front. He should know a lot about grief, he
built his own centre to guide those who have gone through any kind of life
transition into and through their grieving experiences. The details are a
little fuzzy but as I recall he finished up the question and answer time he went
into a personal story about someone criticizing him for the way he approached
grief by “saying hello before saying goodbye.” The person criticizing him
thought someone should “just move on” in their life. Get over the grief and move
forward. “How can someone just ‘move on’ from losing someone near and dear to
them?” I thought to myself. Then the presenter got really passionate about
his response. He said, “I got mad at this person, mind you I restrained myself
from ripping a strip off of them, but I got mad. I was so mad I wrote a book
(which subsequently became a bestseller). “I could have gotten bitter at this
person,” the presenter said, yet I chose this situation to help me become
better.
Bitter or better… these are the choices
that face us when we receive bad news. Granted, many chose not to feel
anything and ignore their feelings or circumstances by “just moving on” with
their lives. I have realized that I cannot merely “move on” from the grief
that young girls face every day experience of being trafficked for greed and
personal pleasure. That’s why I want to do something about
it.
Go to https://ratanak.org/secure/donate.cfm to find out
how you can be involved with my “Run for Ratanak” later this year at the
Saskatchewan Marathon.
And the next time you
experience loss in your life, don’t just ‘move on’ become better rather than
bitter by helping someone with your anger rather than tarring someone down.
RSS Feed