Water, Water Everywhere

WWW – the Whole World Weeps

 A sampling of recent headlines from around the world:

China Hurries to Shore Up Dikes as Floodwaters Rise
Dikes Hold in Magdeburg As Swollen Elbe Moves On
Germans, Czechs Trim Budgets To Pay Cost of Flood Damages
Floods Kill 24 in India, Lifting South Asia Death Toll to 935
Floods in Germany Threaten Chemical Complex, Old Town
Historic Buildings in Dresden Escape Major Flood Damage
Dresden Flood Forces Evacuation Of 33,000 People Near City Center
Monsoons Hit Northeast India; Floods Leave Millions Homeless
Flood Toll Rises to 94 in Europe; More German Cities Threatened
Floods Kill Dozens in Europe; Parts of Prague Under Water
Death Toll Increases To 74 in European Floods
Monsoon Rain, Landslides Kill at Least 43 in India 

And here in the United States, was the recent  reminder that it has been 10 years since Hurricane Andrew ravaged an area of Southern Florida.

Explicit and implicit in those headlines are - 

The grief caused by death and injury of loved ones…

 The grief caused by fear, hunger, and displacement…

The grief caused by the loss of home, possessions, and of reminders and connections to family and  heritage…

The grief caused by the loss of irreplaceable landmark buildings and treasured artworks.. 

All are losses; all are different; all can and do create overwhelming emotions in those directly affected and those who are related to or connected to them. 

We in America sometimes lose sight of the larger world we live in. But those of us who help people deal with loss are constantly reminded that grief and loss are the only universal realities, shared by all living creatures.

Sadly also shared are some common misconceptions about how we deal with loss. Most of the world’s peoples labor under false ideas about dealing with death, destruction, and relocation. Every native tongue has a cliché parallel to Time Heals All Wounds, yet time can do nothing but pass. 

Time cannot resurrect loved ones who have died, nor magically recreate a lost memento from our family heritage.

It is one thing to report the news, it is another thing to comment on the news, and it is an entirely other thing to know what to do in reaction to the news and the painful realities it presents.

When we hear about disasters, usually our first thoughts go to the safety of our own family and friends, and then we wonder how horrible it must be for those who have been affected by the events.

As member of the family of humankind, it is time for us to expand our emotional reach to include all whose lives have been devastated by loss. Thoughts and prayers are nice, but in addition, we must all begin to acquire better information about loss so we can communicate more clearly with the people close to us, and to expand the circle of
helpful knowledge on the topic of grief. 

It is time to make grief and loss something we are willing to talk about and to stop sweeping under the carpet. We encourage journalists and others to expand their coverage to include more than the emotional stories and aftermaths, by adding a component of re-educational awareness to their pieces.

We make ourselves available to you for input on the other part of the story - the solution part - not just the pain.