UNSPEAKABLE
Birge-Bytes: Unspeakable! At least it was to me last Friday, Dec.14, 2012. Sympathy is when you feel sorry & sad something "bad' has happened to someone in the world. Empathy means you seem able to actually "feel" what it must be like for those involved. "You put yourself in their shoes, as the saying goes."
You can retire from a "job" but NOT from the people and memories...I remember the Best JOYS and
the numbing PAIN as well from my Career....I attended funerals for teacher friends AND teenagers I
loved and cared about. I actually went to try and help comfort the living students; some had never been
to a funeral and looked lost and some had been to TOO many in their short lives. The word "COMFORT" actually means to "stand beside and help"....no WORDS really help...there is a feeling of discomfort that you might say something to make it even worse (as if you could). More is said by your presence next to the person than with any words...a caring quiet hug conveys everything a word could. I have been blessed (or cursed) with my background of being able to understand emotion on a very deep level. I KNOW how EMOTION feels. Fear, loneliness, abandonment, shock, doubt, etc.
I am drawn quickly to someone that is hurting and wish very hard my hug could take the pain from them....I even called it my "Savior Syndrome" in that I wanted, as a teacher, to be there for ALL of my students (especially the "difficult" ones) There is always a SOURCE to their pain.
Child/Teen funerals are excruciatingly unfair before they have lived the life that should have been their right to live. Teachers are drilled and trained to protect by the school system but above and beyond that is the FACT that most would give their lives in the protection of their students.
Mrs.B.
You can retire from a "job" but NOT from the people and memories...I remember the Best JOYS and
the numbing PAIN as well from my Career....I attended funerals for teacher friends AND teenagers I
loved and cared about. I actually went to try and help comfort the living students; some had never been
to a funeral and looked lost and some had been to TOO many in their short lives. The word "COMFORT" actually means to "stand beside and help"....no WORDS really help...there is a feeling of discomfort that you might say something to make it even worse (as if you could). More is said by your presence next to the person than with any words...a caring quiet hug conveys everything a word could. I have been blessed (or cursed) with my background of being able to understand emotion on a very deep level. I KNOW how EMOTION feels. Fear, loneliness, abandonment, shock, doubt, etc.
I am drawn quickly to someone that is hurting and wish very hard my hug could take the pain from them....I even called it my "Savior Syndrome" in that I wanted, as a teacher, to be there for ALL of my students (especially the "difficult" ones) There is always a SOURCE to their pain.
Child/Teen funerals are excruciatingly unfair before they have lived the life that should have been their right to live. Teachers are drilled and trained to protect by the school system but above and beyond that is the FACT that most would give their lives in the protection of their students.
Mrs.B.
