July 25, 2018
Endure and enduring. Words that look the same, but these verbs can work for you or against you. Endure: suffer patiently. Or, endure, remain in existence, last, live, go on...survive.
Life’s little problems go hand-in-hand with our daily routines. I have written about my woes and sadness, good times, and fun stories, which I have encountered over the past 6 years from my daily dose of reality. But when I read the story about the woman who lost her husband, 3 kids, and 6 family members, I can’t help but feel guilty for having sadness. Oh my, how will she ever endure what she is enduring?
Deep inside, I know I’m grateful that her situation wasn’t mine. Who would wish such horror on anyone? When I was younger, my 2 friends, who were brothers, died within 6 months apart. I will never forget the screams of their mother when I informed her of the death of her last child. Tragically, after all that, her husband and their stepdad drank himself to death. How did their mom ever endure while enduring?
Their mom told me once, “ Chris, if I believed in suicide, I’d be dead.” I’m happy to report that she has endured and lives a quiet life. But not everyone can recover. People grieve in their own way. Some people endure longer than others, but just because they are grieving longer than you’d expect, do not lose hope on anyone you care about. Help him or her, or endure for the long term.
My brother’s wife just lost her mom, who died while at the hospital. A loss of a parent, a feeling I have yet to know and hope not to endure anytime soon. However, she is faced with the daunting task of honoring her mother in a way others may not know. We may all think we know their mom, but a child knows their parent best. Kind-hearted, loving, and selfless are good places to start if you ask me.
I don’t know how to reach out to the mom who lost her family to the Branson, Missouri Duck Boat tragedy, but I do ask myself, how will she endure? There are no words of wisdom that I can give her. There are not enough prayers that I can send her. And there is nothing I can do to make her life feel renewed. But I know the process she is beginning, and it is a dark place to start. She is enduring what no one could possibly comprehend.
Enduring the onslaught of dark clouds that only offer shortsightedness of having no future can seem too impossible to overcome. It is so much easier to fall into oblivion and never come back. We will suffer with the loss of a loved one because we understand that their presence is gone forever. But we have to fight, endure, and do our best to break free of the darkness that is cast over us. Our demise is not what our loved ones want to occur. They would want us to endure and overcome this dark place so that we will live on as their everlasting legacy. You have to endure the pain in the short term to have enduring happiness.
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*** I can't fathom the loss of those of the Duck Boat tragedy. Please consider donating.
https://www.gofundme.com/branson-duck-boat-survivor/donate
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