Clockwork Penguin Productions (twotone) wrote, @ 2003-03-05 10:30:00

Current mood:

melancholy

Letter 1: On Death
Dear Kid,
I don't have any words of comfort to offer you, because anything that I say will sound hollow, and you deserve better than empty platitudes.

It will hurt. Probably, it'll hurt for a while. And you'll wonder if the tears you shed are for the life forever lost, or for yourself, for the gaping hole in your every-day reality that this absence creates.

You might find yourself doing things automatically.
I wonder if I should save some of my dinner for him... oh yeah... he's gone.
And it'll hurt. The stronger your love is, the greater your mourning will be, because your every-day routine will be filled with reminders that something is missing.

You might be haunted by what might have been, what could have been, if only they could speak and tell us what they needed us to do...

A wise man once told me:


It's the hardest part of having a pet.
And growing to care about something that isn't a human being.
It's a uniquely human trait, I think.



So hurting and loss, in a way, are part and package of the deal. You meet, you love, you lose, you mourn.

But don't let that stop you from loving again. The ability to love, despite knowing that loss and mourning are destined to follow, is a sign of true courage and humanity. Don't ever, ever let the pain of loss close your heart to the warmth of love.

It hurts. Even after years, when you can look back on the good times and forget the bad, it hurts.

But it's a good kind of hurt.

It's the kind that keeps you human.

miaow 2003-03-23 07:08 (link)

That's awesome, and so true. One of the worst things about loving a pet is that we're doomed to outlive them. For kids, their dog or cat will (hopefully) be their first experience with death. That's one reason (of many) why I think it's good for kids to have pets, to become close to them. It teaches them compassion for things that aren't like them, it teaches them responsibility, and eventually it teaches them that love is worth the pain of loss. Thanks for sharing with us. :) (Reply to this) (Thread)