Bravery, Courage, Emotions, Faith
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS – UNANSWERED PRAYERS
The mystery of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 seems to have highjacked the airways and remains a constant on all the news channels. The endless restating of limited facts and difficult to understand technical data is all a bit mind numbing, until you stop to think about the passengers and their loved ones.
What must it be like for the families of the missing passengers and crewmembers? They’re world turned upside down. What has happened here? The frustration and the pain simply unimaginable as satellite photos are examined, discussed and dismissed. Once again ships are headed for a closer look at wreckage found in the Indian Ocean that could be final proof that all on board are lost
Is there a miracle to hope for? Was it unreasonable to think that the massive aircraft and all on board could actually have landed in some remote airstrip, and that all were being held for some eventual ransom demand?
When is hope unreasonable?
How can a plane simply disappear without a trace? It’s happened before. Not to an aircraft of this size with anywhere near as many people on board but since before the use of motorized aircraft even balloons have simply disappeared.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aerial_disappearances
Hopefully, in time the cause of this tragedy will be discovered and the mystery solved. If not the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this one. It’s the stuff that made films like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” so Riveting.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/missing-malaysian-airlines-flight-seven-3241706
Bermuda triangles and Alien abduction theories will continue to swirl in the imaginings of remote possibility, but in the harsh light of a morning with a parent or partner missing, it’s the needs of the families and friends of 239 lost souls that need our prayers.
While multiple countries have searched for the missing aircraft a more appropriate search for us might be for the right words to comfort someone in a time of loss.
Anything spoken from the heart is good. While platitudes about “God has a plan for us all” and “I’m sure he’s in a better place.” may come from a place of deep faith sometimes something more practical can really help.
“I’m so sorry for your loss. What can I do to help?” or “What do you need, honey? Let me take the kids for the night.” Life goes on and sometimes a simple act of cleaning or cooking can make a difference. “I know you’re heart broken. I understand. I’m here if you want to talk.”
When a state trooper knocked on the door of my trailer at age 13 and said my Father was gone a neighbor took my brother and I and made breakfast. It was the middle of the night. But it’s what she knew to do. I’ve never forgotten.
Finding the right words or actions to bring comfort to those in such agony feels like a good start. It’s good to be honest. “I don’t really know what to say but I’m here for you. I hope you can feel how loved you are.
These are families who’ve suffered a marathon of just waiting.
Hope is eternal for some but in the end there are harsh realities we learn to live with. My wish for those families is immediate. I pray their memories serve their healing process through the years. That the best become sweeter with age and the bad slowly disappear. For the moment if you know someone dealing with such loss you are given an extraordinary opportunity to display your best features. Kindness and compassion.
Let’s gather our energies and as we finish this short piece maybe close our eyes, breath deeply and send healing love to those around the world in mourning. Sympathy and support to hold them all in loving Gratitude and Trust
It couldn’t hurt.
Paul Williams is a singer, songwriter, actor, recovery advocate and has been a fixture on the American cultural scene since the seventies. His book Gratitude and Trust is now available.