Against my better judgement, I shared my thoughts about a CD, which my older brother had given me three years ago, on FB. I thought I would be relatively safe from any reproach because the text was in Spanish and most of my FB friends do not speak Spanish. But, I had underestimated the power of FB's translation on the spot. Therefore, as a result, I received many comments chiding me for my melancholy sentiments. I left the post there for half a day but then deleted it because the comments were starting to make me upset. This incident proved to me once again that the people who have not lost a child, have no clue as how to deal with such a loss. I know everybody meant well and was simply trying to help me in their own way, however, the suggestions were mostly cliche and superficial. Not that it was their fault - how could they possibly know how to alleviate the grief of a bereaved parent? How can happy songs make me happy? Would someone who has a missing limb ever forget about their missing limb when listening to a cheerful tune? Can one ever ignore the fact that one is in a wheelchair and not walking like other people? I have no doubt that everybody who has had a severe misfortune in life will find fleeting moments in which they may feel happy, but to expect them to be happy like someone who has never experienced similar hardships is unrealistic.
In every corner of our world, in every culture, the worst misery and misfortune which can befall a parent is the loss of his/her child. That is a universally accepted torment. We have all heard about it, read about it, seen it in movies, even cartoons, but still, most of us do not understand the depth of this misery unless we are faced with it. If it were easy to recover from such an affliction, it would not have been considered such a monumental heartbreak.
