Thursday, August 6, 2009

Yet another perfect quote and poem

My awesome nephew sent me these quotes he found while studying grief in his health class. They are perfect. Thanks Mitch!

When talking about the need to take time in grief, Earl A. Grollman writes, "Grief is a process. Recovering is your choice. Grief is the price you pay for love, but you don’t have to go on paying forever. Time does not automatically heal your pain. It is your willingness to touch your pain – to accept it, to work with it, to understand your change of moods and behavior, and then to begin to reorganize your life. Healing happens as you allow feelings to happen. Time does not completely heal a broken heart; it only teaches you how to live with it."

Terry Kettering wrote the following poem, entitled "The Elephant in the Room."

There’s an elephant in the room.
It is large and squatting, so it is hard to get around it.
Yet we squeeze by with, "How are you" and "I’m fine."
And a thousand other forms of trivial chatter.
We talk about the weather.
We talk about work.
We talk about everything except the elephant in the room.
There’s an elephant in the room.
We all know it is there.
We are thinking about the elephant as we talk together.
It is constantly on our minds.
For you see, it is a very big elephant.
It has hurt us all.
But we do not talk about the elephant in the room.
Oh, please, say her name.
Oh please, say "Barbara" again.
Oh please, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
For if we talk about her death,
Perhaps we can talk about her life.
Can I say Barbara to you and not have you look away?
For if I cannot, then you are leaving me
Alone
In a room
With an elephant.

4 comments:

Jill said...

What a sensitive bro I have eh? :) These poems and thoughts are so...perfect. I'm glad there are people out there who can express with perfect clarity the reality of life. No excuses. No painting a beautiful picture when sometimes it's only ugly. I love you Andrea! I know this reality is awful but I also know the beautiful strength you have because of it. Thinking of you always!

Love, Jill

Michelle Arnett said...

Beautiful. I love this post and the poem and quotes hit the spot:)

Natalie said...

Great post! I love all the quotes and poems you have posted. It's amazing what can be conveyed in words and music. It was good to see you this last weekend, I still don't feel like we got to see eachother enough though. Dang Pictures. HA HA! Thanks again for coming to my bread class. You are always so supportive of me. Love you lots!

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