Shortly after my son passed away, I remember sitting in a meeting of some sort, where everyone was fully engaged in a discussion that was filled with laughter and mirth, when suddenly and unexpectedly it hit me...everyone was carrying on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
I had to get up and leave the room to gain my composure. The realization hit me like the power of a tsunami as it washed over me the cold cruel fact that yes, indeed, even though my world was at a stand still, life does go on.
How could this be? Why didn't the world stop turning after such a great loss? I know mine did, what was the matter with everyone else?
I was still filled with these thoughts as the meeting ended and I left to go spend some time at my son's grave. It was then that I came to accept the fact that life does go on even after a devastating event. It doesn't matter if it's the death of a mother's beloved child, or if it's a tragedy that affects an entire nation and thousands of people. Sooner than not, everyone is back to their normal lives of laughing, shopping, working, celebrating, and the day to day-ness of life, as if nothing ever happened.
Five years later, and after witnessing a few other friends bury their children, I now know that life must go on. If life were lived in constant sadness and grief, we would miss out on all the joy that surrounds us in mass each and every day from just simply being alive. We would forget what the plaque hanging in my home quoting President Gordon B. Hinckley says, "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."
I am so grateful to those who understand that I still love to talk about my son as they express to me that he is still remembered and always will be.
We will soon stop talking and hearing news reports on the tragedy in Japan long before the people have recovered. As always, life will go on. But that doesn't mean we ever have to forget what happened. I vow to remember and pray for those whose lives will never be the same again.
I am also praying for them to waken to the realization, while in the midst of their despair, that one day they too will shop, work, celebrate, laugh, and talk about the trivial things and the dailyness of life again. I did!
