I have become aware of the condition of a friend who is experiencing some trials lately. None of the experiences are, perhaps, unusual in themselves, but their almost simultaneous visitations could test anyone’s spirit. He is trying, not to make sense of these sorts of life-happenings – because everything makes sense or nothing makes sense, and “time and chance happen to all men,” as Proverbs says – but to cope, simply to cope. Have you ever been there?
In less than a calendar year his special-needs niece died; his nine-day-old granddaughter died; his wife, after multiple long-term illnesses, is to choose between dialysis and hospice; and his sister, who lost her home in Hurricane Sandy, is losing a battle with HIV that was long held at bay. My friend says he keeps fighting the seduction to moan about his own condition, his own emotions and reactions to these matters.
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