Clearly, we lose many famous and infamous people each year but when you reflect at who has been lost over a ten-year time span, it’s almost overwhelming. Joe Powell linked to a memoriam in his post A Decade With a Heavy Toll.
While it’s sad to see the loss of the famous, seeing the final tallies for Hurricane Katrina, the devastating Asian tsunami on the day after Christmas FIVE years ago, September 11th, and those lost in war, murder, and accidents is just terribly sad.
The child in all of us lost Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, Superman Christopher Reeve, and Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. But the loss of life to the tsunami is breathtaking.
I’m hoping this holiday seasons passes with no more grim surprises.
- So runs my dream, but what am I?
- An infant crying in the night
- An infant crying for the light
- And with no language but a cry.
In Memoriam by Lord Alfred Tennyson
For information about how to help a child deal with grief during the holidays, click here for a Guideposts article.
“Remember that as a parent, you’re modeling grief for your children. You don’t want to pretend that Uncle Jack didn’t just die. You want to teach them that it’s OK to be sad, and that life does go on,” says Kessler.
During the holiday meal or gathering, consider sharing a special story about Uncle Jack, or say a special prayer in his memory. Or, if you’re with lots of guests, you can take the kids off privately for a few minutes and light a candle for him.
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