Cruel

I got to work this morning and heard my VP talking about a cruel life situation that his family is experiencing right now. His niece died five years ago in a car accident which left her brain dead. His other niece, her younger sister, was in a car accident on Thursday, and is brain dead. Their ICU rooms are right next door to each other. The family was greeted by the physicians in the same waiting room. They are eating in the same cafeteria. This niece will soon die, just as her sister did, just five years apart. My VP mentioned how cruel this is. He wondered out loud why it is necessary, what good could possible come out of this? I wondered right along with him. My heart ached for him, and still does.

I remember being in the hospital with my boys. I remember looking out the windows at Primary Children's Hospital. I remember looking out over the valley and thinking to myself that life was still happening for all of these people. Life was continuing for all of those people out there, out the windows of the hospital. I remember wondering if any of those people had any thought of all of "us" who were in the hospital with dying family members, our loved ones. I remember making a commitment to myself that when I was one of "those" people, I would always try to think about the people on the other side of the windows at the hospital.

We never know what is going on in people's lives. We never know what kind of grief they might be feeling. We never know what they are experiencing. Life can be so cruel. It can be so confusing. It can be so painful, so scary, so emotionally draining. But, life still goes on. I hope that today, my thoughts and prayers will be more of gratitude for the health and well-being of my sweet family, and on compassion for those whose lives have been changed forever.