A Future Forever Changed
October 22, 2007 by brianrodgers
by Stephanie Elson
The death of a child is like no other loss a person can experience. Often for bereaved parents, others around them may try to sympathize with a bereaved parent’s pain by comparing it to the loss of a parent, a friend or a spouse. Certainly, those losses are all painful, but they are still quite different from the death of a child.
One difference is the type of love that is unique from a parent to their child. The love, in my opinion, is as close to pure love as is possible in this world. So many parents, without a blink of the eye, would gladly give their own lives to preserve the life of their child.
We all have heard the sentiment that children are our future. A child’s life is intricately connected to the life (and future) of their parents. So many people promote the idea of “closure” to bereaved parents. There is no solid “closure” when a child dies as no holiday will ever be the same, and family celebrations take on a bitter-sweet quality.
There is “learning to live with the grief” where there can be less pain and more peace, but the memory of that child will travel with a parent for the rest of their lives. The task of learning to live with the grief is a monumental undertaking which involves difficult choices and hard work.
When a parent dies, you lose your past; when a child dies, you lose your future.
– Anonymous
