Life is full of tragedies. Mostly they pass us by unless you’re personally involved. Millions die all over the world from war, disease, starvation, or plain neglect and we neither know nor care, except on an impersonal; “Oh those poor people… ” sort of feeling. If we’re stirred at all, we send off our donations to the charities, maybe put tins into collection points or maybe even give our old clothes and discards to Op-Shops and the like.
Afterwards, feeling relieved we’ve ‘done our bit’ we put their problems out of our minds and get back to the day to day business of living.
Yet sometimes a story pops out that makes you thankful for what you have and how grateful you are that your life has maintained a semblance of normality when others see their world collapsing around them.
One such story has appeared in online version of the Daily Mail and relates how 39 year old Sarah Galley-Stedmans has already begun choosing cards celebrating the special anniversaries in her daughters life.
She is selecting cards for her 16th, 18th, 21st birthdays etc despite daughter Darcie only being 4 years old currently. The reason as you might suspect is that she has learned she is dying of inoperable cancer.
Sadly the cancer was only discovered as she was in hospital at what should have been the happiest time of her life so far, delivering her baby.
Initially given just 18 months to live she has, with the help of new chemotherapy and radiology techniques managed to remain fairly fit and active for the past four years though in that period her marriage broke down as the stress took its toll. I don’t think she wants anyone to feel sorry for her, she isn’t crying out for support or assistance, she’s just telling her story because she can.
I’d say that for many amongst us, those complaints and whinges about the trivial everyday problems we cope with, pale into insignificance when you realise the sort of pressures this woman is having to deal with. How hard must it be to tell your 3 year old that mummy might have to leave her soon to go to heaven?
Yes it’s one more relatively small tragedy amongst a hundred million others… but sometimes it’s the sharp focus those ‘small’ ones provide that help bring everything else into some sort of perspective. It’s a hard life, but we have to be grateful for each day we make it through and pray it’ll all be worth it in the end.
Source: Mail Online
The Eclectic Interweb 