If we could share in pain

If we could partake of the pain of others, and so lift a small portion of it from them, how would it change the world?

Perhaps not much, judging by the reaction and feelings spread throughout the community when news hit of young man, full of promise, cut short. 

The sharing of some small portion of the pain of his family by a large part of the community seemed very evident over the last week — from Facebook posts to meetings canceled, even by some not directly affected.

The loss of such a life is not something we can, or should, get over. Instead we must learn to absorb it over time into our very pulse — a small, constant movement of the heart underlying our every movement through every day.

Having experienced a similar loss just months ago, my wife and I know the totally unnatural, irreconcilable feeling of a child dying before the parent. It’s just wrong, and we all know it. The heart is torn from the chest of the parent. And in the community, the loss of that life diminishes us all; a piece of our collective hope for the future is gone.

But we also know that reconcile we must, somehow embracing grief to begin to absorb it and dilute it.

In the meantime, it seems to help to know that many friends, family and even strangers have felt the loss and, perhaps thereby, each lifted a tiny portion of the burden.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher