Sad

Sad news: My son’s friend/fraternity brother did not make it. The Child and his fraternity brothers have gone to the funeral. The thought of the loss of a young man, a good young man, is heartbreaking, and I cannot imagine--no, I don’t want to imagine--what his family must be going through right now. It’s too painful.

The reality is that death does not pick and choose, but strikes with seeming unreason, and no one escapes it. In that, it is bitterly dependable. What is not so dependable is our reaction to it. I look at my son and his fraternity brothers, however, and I am glad they have the character and heart to come to the side of a friend and his family, sit vigil, and do what they can in their young and earnest way to support the family in their loss. I don’t know how many would take the effort and tirelessly travel all that way to support and pay respects to someone who is not related, and was known for only a short time. It is easy to run from death, and look the other way, because it is a fearful thing.

These are good young men. My son will always be “my boy,” but the image of him as an adult is stronger now than the small, chubby-cheeked little one I keep in my heart, when I think of him dealing with this shock and grief as an adult in a way that makes me proud. He is a good person, as are his friends. Death simply is, but good people look at it plainly, and continue to be good. And this, in light of this terrible event, comforts me.

--Karen H.