Grief....On Dealing With Community Grief

     The subject of this week’s Annie was going to be the meaning of Memorial Day…or Decoration Day. I was looking forward to writing about this meaningful holiday until another subject so tragically crowded in front of my original plan.

     We lost a dynamic young man this week. He is gone. Just like that.. So fast, and with no warning. It is a heartbreak to not only his family; his mother and dad, his grandparents, his high school classmates, but it is a heartache and a devastation to all of us in this community.

     It doesn’t matter if we didn’t know Trevor Greathouse. I didn’t know him personally but I know he was an exceptional young man…talented…a scholar…and a recipient of the Jordaan Foundation scholars award. I know he worked at Dillon’s

      I am certain that he was admired and loved by his teachers as well. This has been devastating to them too. I understand that. I have been a teacher, and a teacher invests his/her life and efforts into the young people he/she teaches.
      We have experienced this kind of loss in our community more than we can count. The memory of those losses we never forget. We never forget those ones who are gone. Memories can bring some comfort and pride, but we cannot experience those emotions now.

     So what is my good message here?  
     The message is that Jesus said,” My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid…” This is our only hope at a time like this. It is comforting.

      The Bible instructs us to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15). Then we should pray for those who have been close to Trevor. Those are the correct things to do at a time like this. We can mourn with them. And then, we can pray for all those who dearly loved this young man, that they may have that peace that passes all understanding.

     There is another factor in comforting the bereaved. There is great comfort in many sharing the load of grief and sorrow.…The importance of friends and family surrounding those wounded, grieving ones who have been left behind with this burden to bear can not be underestimated. Don’t forget the family and the classmates. They will need you in the months ahead, not only now. There is strength in the nourishment of the friends and family who give help and comfort to those who can barely endure right now.

     As a community, we send our deepest sorrows and sympathy.