When Words Of Comfort Don’t Seem To Be Enough

Just some thoughts on this dreary, cold day.

It is hard when loved ones die from disease or old age. It is horrible when loved ones die from an accident. It is devastating when loved ones are killed by others.   Those left behind always seem to have a feeling of guilt, but that’s mainly from being helpless. I’ve said on this blog many times that death does not discriminate. It doesn’t care about age, gender, or the color of skin.   Money might buy medical care to extend life, but it cannot bribe death when the time comes.  That sense of helplessness runs deep.

When loved ones are killed, people look to the justice system. The only comfort that comes from that is the sense of juries and judges acknowledging right from wrong. However, what juries hear and see is painted by their own hearts and minds.  People are not computers programmed to process data without bias.

There are times when there are no words sufficient in bringing comfort to the hurting, to those who have lost loved ones, the ill, the tired. There are times when I feel that there must be more – something I can do, and not merely say. If I had the power of resurrection, I would walk through the hospitals, the morgue, the graveyards, calling out names and saying, “Come forth.”

Today, because I feel that there are no words sufficient to directly comfort the living, I will address their loved ones who have gone on.

Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin. What can I say? You came to me in a dream which gave me confirmation to come to the internet in or around May 2012. The rest, as they say, is history. You rallied a nation and other countries to open our eyes to the hearts and minds of people who don’t like equality for all, and brought together many who believe and continue to advocate for equality for all.

John Wrana

John Wrana, how I hurt for you. You should have died in dignity and not been killed with bean bags. Had I known you personally and worked at the assisted living center where you lived, I would have loved to engage you in conversation about your military experience. I can only imagine the almost century worth of experiences and wisdom you had to share.

Kristiana Coignard

Kristiana Coignard, if I only knew you and what you were going through, to be that ear and shoulder so you would have not have committed suicide by cop.

 

 

James Anderson

James Craig Anderson, you didn’t have a chance defending yourself against a gang of youths. You had no chance defending yourself against a truck. You didn’t get to say good-bye to your partner and family. I didn’t know you personally but yet your memory lives in my heart.

 

Casey Kressin

Casey Kressin, I wish that you had made it to the hospital and not died of an asthma attack on the side of the road in the cold while asking for help while a cop questioned your girlfriend.

 

 

 

Tamir Rice

Andy Lopez

Tamir Rice and Andy Lopez, I am sorry that you were so young with no idea of how adults are at times unable to judge play from danger. I am sorry that you didn’t know why you were shot and died without being able to tell your family what you did and didn’t do. Tamir, I am sorry that your mom and sister were physically restrained from comforting you as you bled on the ground.

 

Jordan Davis

Jordan Davis, I look at your photo and like your mom, see that “big toothy smile” that she so misses.  Your mom and dad seem so strong, but strength means that love and hurt are just as strong.  Still waters run deep.

 

 

 

John Crawford

John Crawford, there are no words to express the horror for why an individual would call-in a false report to the police that resulted in your death. It should make us all concerned about shopping in the toy section or shopping at all.

 

 

 

Misty Holt-Singh

Misty Holt-Singh, like John Crawford, you were minding your own business on the day you were killed. You didn’t ask to be taken hostage by bank robbers, and law enforcement did not bother to ask if your life without a bullet proof vest was as valuable as their own when they opened fire on the vehicle in which you were held against your will.  You were not killed by the kidnapper/robbers, but by 10 bullets from the firearms of the police. My heart cries.

 

 

Nathan Andrew Clark

Nathan Andrew Clark. Who would have thought that going out of town to compete in soccer game would result in you being shot and killed in a motel room by a man who shot through the wall? Convicted felons are not suppose to have guns. Those things are not suppose to happen.

 

 

 

Patricia Cook

Patricia Cook, what can I say? At least the physical evidence contradicted the story of your murderer and he was convicted, but that doesn’t bring you back. At 54-years old, you had experiences and wisdom to pass on that should not have been taken from you by 5 bullets from the gun of a man who was deputized to serve and protect you.

 

 

Michael Brown

Michael Brown. I don’t care what you did or didn’t do in that convenience store. Neither do I care what happened between you and Darren Wilson at his vehicle. What stays on my mind is that you ran and you ran after first being shot at Wilson’s vehicle. At that moment, you were no threat to Wilson. Retaliation for something you did and ran from is not what law enforcement is deputized to perform. Common-law , sovereign citizen style is becoming too common in the United States. When law enforcement uses it, we are no longer a nation of laws.

Ethan Saylor

Ethan Saylor. Since I heard of the way that you died, you come to my thoughts often. There have been discussions about law enforcement being better trained to deal with mentally ill citizens. That does not resolve how they could recognize that you were Down Syndrome, and rather than waiting a few minutes for your mom to arrive, decided to use force on you so excessive that it broke your larynx. I am so sorry that you died not understanding what was happening to you. You were trying to do the right thing. I am so sorry that those 3 deputies didn’t place importance to your life.   Maybe one day they or someone in their family will have a Down Syndrome child.

So many others not named here, but not forgotten.

I leave you today with the following words song by U2;

“One heart. One love. We’ve got to carry each other. “