I have never had a tragic event happen close to my being. I have never had my home burn down, been mugged, or had someone killed that was close to me. I, in all respects, have been lucky not to experience any of these tragic physical events. I have had many other horrible things happen in my life but they were all mental, and had only minor implications on my physical world. But, these other loses I have only ever experienced, sadly, through my friends and family.
I grew up in Anaheim, Ca, on a cul-de-sac, with my father, brother, grandparents, and four other children, that I call my childhood friends. I over the years have remembered some of the great things that we did for each other, that I will one of these days write about in great detail.
Today though, I had one of these childhood friends almost lose there home to a fire. For those who don’t know, there was an extremely bad fire in Orange County, Ca over the last weekend. It threatened some of my families’ homes as well as said friend. She had just bought a condo with her fiancée. From what I remember, they only bought it around 6 months ago.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like to evacuate my home and leave it with the knowledge that it might not be there when I get back. She had to watch the news while dealing with the knowledge that at any moment she could be seeing her home burn down to the ground. Because I’ve never had to deal with these things, I have no way of fully understanding how to deal with such a tragedy. I sat reading her blog entry knowing there was nothing I could say to help comfort my old friend.
I decided not do anything stupid, like, telling her it’s all going to be ok, at least you got out safely, or it happened for a reason/God’s plan. I had nothing to back up any of those claims and knew that it would do nothing to help her suffering. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote her but I do know that her house didn’t burn down and that in fact, it was about to, before the firemen got the blaze under control. I’m not sure really why I’m writing this, maybe it’s because I was powerless to help her. Maybe I just needed to get it off my chest. Or maybe, I’m trying to prove that sometimes it’s best to say as little as possible but just let them know your there for them in there time of need.