I'm so sorry for all these years you've missed your mother. I'm praying now that even in the hardness of the anniversary of her death there will also be comfort somehow.
Lucy, thank you so much for your prayers! I was blessed with a very good mother. Her love in those early years made all the difference for me! And she still helps me every day.
Your important article has the hallmark of a fitting tribute to your mother, the anniversary, and all the sufferers that Elie Wiesel could reach.
I like most have known grief, sorrow and sometimes the harrowing by regret, but I do not know the acute traumas. Wiesel's use of his experience from that appalling period reminds me that we see the return of Total War, the deliberate destruction on industrial scale of civilian populations, and that the democratic allies, I am British and old enough to remember being bombed, have not come to proper terms with 'our' atrocities of destruction by bombing and fire storm of cities in the later years of WWII.
That was 20+ years of trauma...the Depression and then the War...and then the fear of the early Cold War. My goodness. It did a number on our societies.
We do not handle grief well in the USA. I too lost my mother, and less than 24 hrs later, my father, in 1997 as the result of a car accident. The tragedy happened on the day we were celebrating my younger son’s 9th birthday. In my own grief, I did not realize how deeply he was impacted until years later when he wrote a paper about this in his senior year of high school. I believe this trauma in his life played a part in his prodigal story.
Our churches hold “Celebrations of life”, but leave little room for grieving.
Dixie, this was a beautiful reflection on how suffering, even great suffering like Wiesel's, when we come to terms with it and are vulnerable enough to share it with others, can bring about good. I used to think it was a truism that happiness is something we can easily share, but sorrow isolates, but as I get older, I'm beginning to think the opposite is in fact more true.
Many know the night . . . yes, a very perceptive thought, especially coming from someone like Elie Wiesel. No one has a monopoly on suffering; it goes on all around us, never ceasing. I see it consuming my close neighbors, and I see it in the terrible wars half a world away.
I have often thought how blessed my own life has been, that I have suffered very little. Yet, when I think of it more deeply, I too have known the night. My father died of lung cancer. My wife and I lost a stillborn son; https://adelaidebooks.org/the-mending-cycle
Kirk, I have never lost a child and I am deeply saddened by the pain I see experienced by families who have. Thank you for welcoming this little boy, who is eternal.
(Also, incidentally, thank you for you contributions to H&F -- Matt and I have valued them highly! We hope you'll continue to write for us.)
Thank you so much. I love Hearth & Field; it presents so many solid down-to-earth values of faith, joy in life, nature. Keep up the good work!
My response to your article was my first venture onto Substack. I will have to figure out how it works, then start using it. I've been on Medium for some months already.
I'm so sorry for all these years you've missed your mother. I'm praying now that even in the hardness of the anniversary of her death there will also be comfort somehow.
Lucy, thank you so much for your prayers! I was blessed with a very good mother. Her love in those early years made all the difference for me! And she still helps me every day.
A beautiful story, dear Dixie.
When my son passed, his best friend consoled me saying “Our Blessed Mother only had her son for 33 years; you’ve had your son longer”.
I remember Johnny's winning smile. What a loss.
Your important article has the hallmark of a fitting tribute to your mother, the anniversary, and all the sufferers that Elie Wiesel could reach.
I like most have known grief, sorrow and sometimes the harrowing by regret, but I do not know the acute traumas. Wiesel's use of his experience from that appalling period reminds me that we see the return of Total War, the deliberate destruction on industrial scale of civilian populations, and that the democratic allies, I am British and old enough to remember being bombed, have not come to proper terms with 'our' atrocities of destruction by bombing and fire storm of cities in the later years of WWII.
That was 20+ years of trauma...the Depression and then the War...and then the fear of the early Cold War. My goodness. It did a number on our societies.
We do not handle grief well in the USA. I too lost my mother, and less than 24 hrs later, my father, in 1997 as the result of a car accident. The tragedy happened on the day we were celebrating my younger son’s 9th birthday. In my own grief, I did not realize how deeply he was impacted until years later when he wrote a paper about this in his senior year of high school. I believe this trauma in his life played a part in his prodigal story.
Our churches hold “Celebrations of life”, but leave little room for grieving.
Thank you for sharing these words of compassion.
Oh, Lord have mercy. I'm so sorry, Gracia!
Dixie, this was a beautiful reflection on how suffering, even great suffering like Wiesel's, when we come to terms with it and are vulnerable enough to share it with others, can bring about good. I used to think it was a truism that happiness is something we can easily share, but sorrow isolates, but as I get older, I'm beginning to think the opposite is in fact more true.
I am beginning to learn this, too. I wonder if some learn while still children that sorrow brings company and comfort. I hope our children will!
Many know the night . . . yes, a very perceptive thought, especially coming from someone like Elie Wiesel. No one has a monopoly on suffering; it goes on all around us, never ceasing. I see it consuming my close neighbors, and I see it in the terrible wars half a world away.
I have often thought how blessed my own life has been, that I have suffered very little. Yet, when I think of it more deeply, I too have known the night. My father died of lung cancer. My wife and I lost a stillborn son; https://adelaidebooks.org/the-mending-cycle
Thank you for sharing this story.
Kirk, I have never lost a child and I am deeply saddened by the pain I see experienced by families who have. Thank you for welcoming this little boy, who is eternal.
(Also, incidentally, thank you for you contributions to H&F -- Matt and I have valued them highly! We hope you'll continue to write for us.)
Thank you so much. I love Hearth & Field; it presents so many solid down-to-earth values of faith, joy in life, nature. Keep up the good work!
My response to your article was my first venture onto Substack. I will have to figure out how it works, then start using it. I've been on Medium for some months already.