A Terrible Tragedy and a Terrible Truth
I wonder what it is that drives people to the depths of depravity that some seem to plunge into.
Just the other day I heard a report of a 23 year old Texas mother that, for whatever reason, felt that her life was not worth living.
So in a fit of despondency (at least I believe) she decided to end her so called suffering by taking her own life.
Tragic as this is it is nothing compared to the measures she began to take.
There is an old adage that comes to mind: Misery loves company.
Was it that she couldn't face the unknowns of the afterlife by herself, she had to have company.
Someone had to go with her but who? Well on that fateful day there was no willing volunteers so what does she do? She decided that her four young children, ranging in age from 8 months to 5 years, will join her in her journey.
Coldly, she begins ripping strips of cloth and one by one she takes her children (presumably starting with the oldest first) and ties the cloth around their neck and then around a bar in the closet.
I can only imagine the sights and sounds she must have experienced as she went down the line tying each one up and then watching them suffocate to death.
Terrible it must have been.
And yet even the sight of her own children did not stop her from her terrible course.
Maybe she was working up the nerve to take her own life - I really don't know.
But what I do know is that something drove her to act in this way: Something which I can only imagine.
I wish I could have been there to help her; to talk to her, to tell her "It's going to be OK! Nothing is worth all of this" but I wasn't.
All I can do is open my eyes a little wider right here, right now.
To see the people around me and notice or perceive any and everyone fighting off this same demon of depression so that I can help them before it is too late.
The fact is that many, many people suffer from loneliness.
They cry, but no one hears.
They suffer but no one seems to care.
I don't think that its because people are hard hearted as such, but more that they are preoccupied with sewing the fabric of their lives into something they consider to be valuable.
This causes them to forget.
Forget that "No man is an Island unto himself".
We are all part of a great big wonderful thing called life and we need each other.
Some more than others true - but who are we to judge? The problem as I see it is that people are just too busy to be concerned about the needs of others.
This is a terrible tragedy: people need us to notice, they need us to care.
But the terrible truth is that most people will never stop and lift their eyes off of their own set of circumstances to realize the joy that comes from helping other find peace and joy in their life.
Just the other day I heard a report of a 23 year old Texas mother that, for whatever reason, felt that her life was not worth living.
So in a fit of despondency (at least I believe) she decided to end her so called suffering by taking her own life.
Tragic as this is it is nothing compared to the measures she began to take.
There is an old adage that comes to mind: Misery loves company.
Was it that she couldn't face the unknowns of the afterlife by herself, she had to have company.
Someone had to go with her but who? Well on that fateful day there was no willing volunteers so what does she do? She decided that her four young children, ranging in age from 8 months to 5 years, will join her in her journey.
Coldly, she begins ripping strips of cloth and one by one she takes her children (presumably starting with the oldest first) and ties the cloth around their neck and then around a bar in the closet.
I can only imagine the sights and sounds she must have experienced as she went down the line tying each one up and then watching them suffocate to death.
Terrible it must have been.
And yet even the sight of her own children did not stop her from her terrible course.
Maybe she was working up the nerve to take her own life - I really don't know.
But what I do know is that something drove her to act in this way: Something which I can only imagine.
I wish I could have been there to help her; to talk to her, to tell her "It's going to be OK! Nothing is worth all of this" but I wasn't.
All I can do is open my eyes a little wider right here, right now.
To see the people around me and notice or perceive any and everyone fighting off this same demon of depression so that I can help them before it is too late.
The fact is that many, many people suffer from loneliness.
They cry, but no one hears.
They suffer but no one seems to care.
I don't think that its because people are hard hearted as such, but more that they are preoccupied with sewing the fabric of their lives into something they consider to be valuable.
This causes them to forget.
Forget that "No man is an Island unto himself".
We are all part of a great big wonderful thing called life and we need each other.
Some more than others true - but who are we to judge? The problem as I see it is that people are just too busy to be concerned about the needs of others.
This is a terrible tragedy: people need us to notice, they need us to care.
But the terrible truth is that most people will never stop and lift their eyes off of their own set of circumstances to realize the joy that comes from helping other find peace and joy in their life.
