What emergency prompts you to act?

Sitting here this morning, in a hospital chair/foldout bed, after an evening of dragging the suction hose of a shopvac across rainsoaked carpet in the den of my mother in-law’s house, this writer queries the sky.

Next to him, two brochures:

1. What Happens When Someone Dies?, A Child’s Guide to Death and Funerals, written by Michaelene Mundy / Illustrated by R.W. Alley, and
2. Being Angry With God at a Time of Suffering or Loss, written by Carol Luebering;

both published by Abbey Press, St. Meinrad, IN, 47577.

We can often explain underlying contributions to the end of a life – medically-related terminology, geophysical phenomena, war, weather.

But how often are we satisfied with the answers we receive?

A ten-year old boy sees his dead girlfriend in a coffin, understanding the pomp and circumstance of death-based rituals, yet it does not replace the newfound emptiness inside.

How does he learn to control the deepseated anger he cannot express simply by praying?

The football field offers no more than a way to attack others of his kind.

Academic achievements, no matter how perfect, do not substitute for the loss of his young, mature love.

Humour, of both the homespun and macabre variety, provides a path to mask the pain.

Looking at the sky, source of beautiful, blue, sunny weather and destructive balls of icy fury, the question remains the same 40 years later:

Why, God, why?!

The answer is everywhere. Most days, it’s wonderful. Some days, it’s not enough.

C’est la vie, n’est pas?