When we hear of a natural disaster with hundreds or thousands dead, or a suicide, or other cause of ‘unnatural' death, destruction, or mayhem, we label it a tragedy. But what do we call it when it strikes closer to home, directly affecting us or someone we know personally and are watching go through the hell of unexpected grief, dealing with the aftermath, and trying to regain one’s bearings?
Honestly, I can’t think of any word to call it then. It is too raw and real to even put it to words.
We read about Job and all of the evils that befell him and call it a tragedy. But it wasn’t a tragedy to him. It was far, far worse.
Words for his situation were so insufficient, that when his friends joined him, they said nothing…for seven days. In fact, the first words at the end of that week were his intonations of a curse upon his own birth.
There are times in life that are beyond the reach of any words, and we do well to let silence have its eloquence.
SDG
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