Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Thought provoking article from New York Times




June 2, 2012

Out of Tragedy, a Good Life

Washington
WHEN I was growing up, I would never have guessed that I could become a United States senator. Both of my parents — my father a Greek immigrant, my mother the child of immigrants — died before I was 10 years old. My aunt, who worked in a textile mill, and my uncle, who was a barber, took me in, and when my uncle died, my aunt struggled on her own to support me and my five cousins.
I realized early on that I had a choice: allow myself to become overwhelmed by tragedies or learn something from them. And thankfully, as I was surrounded by the twin strengths of family and faith, I was positioned to view any setbacks as temporary, not permanent.
These early experiences with hardship also showed me that, while politics wasn’t high on the menu of choices for women in the 1960s, I wanted to be involved in some form of public service, in improving the lives of others. So I majored in political science at the University of Maine and found summer jobs in government, first working for the Office of Economic Opportunity, then the governor’s office. My ultimate goal was to gain employment in Washington after I graduated.
Fate, however, would intervene in my well-laid plans. I ended up marrying instead and stayed in Maine, where I served on the local Board of Voter Registration and worked for William S. Cohen, then a congressman. My husband was in the Maine House of Representatives. But then, one day while I was at work, I received the devastating news that he had been killed in a car accident returning from the Legislature.
At 26 years old, I was left to build a life for myself.
In the following weeks, while I grieved, friends and political leaders began urging me to run in the special election for my husband’s seat. In the midst of my emotional turmoil I realized I could try once again to make something positive out of a terrible negative. I had a degree in political science and a drive to make a difference in people’s lives. So I ultimately decided to run — and I won.
I have never once actually assembled a résumé, but the rest, as they say, is history. After I served in the Maine House of Representatives and State Senate, my aspiration of securing a job in Washington was fulfilled (though in a slightly different manner than I had originally envisioned). I was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978 and, in 1994, the United States Senate.
The point is, little could I have known that a 40-year journey in elective office would commence just four years after my graduation, with a horrific event that could have been the end for me, rather than a beginning. I would never have wanted to face a crucial career choice at that perilous personal juncture, but it reminded me once again that it is possible to distill triumph from adversity. Because it’s not a question of whether you will encounter difficulties in life; it’s really a question of how you confront them.
Olympia J. Snowe is a Republican senator from Maine.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Our Favorite Month - Submitted by another young widow

October is coming and there is nothing I can do to stop it. It was our favorite month of the year. And now for the first time I have to live through that special month alone without my husband. We always made so many memories in October. We went on a Caribbean Cruise the year I turned 30 and I got to celebrate that milestone birthday on a beautiful Caribbean island. We always took our annual trip to a local orchard and pumpkin patch to pick out our selection of pumpkins to decorate our front porch with. My husband proposed to me on bended knee on a cool October night. And when it came time to pick the month in which we would be married, we mutally agreed to our favorite month. In a few short weeks I will have to endure the pain that I can not escape. Our wedding anniversary is October 14. It would have been our first anniversary. For the rest of my life I will never get to celebrate that wonderful day with my husband. It will now be a day that I will forever dred every year. My husband and I were not blessed in years but only weeks. I lost my husband in a car crash just nine weeks after we were married and four days before what would have been our first Christmas together. I wish I could fast forward these next few months and start with January again. But I know I can not out run the fall season. It's coming and all I can do is brace myself for the impact of pain that will follow.

Monday, September 17, 2012

No Immediate Solution

I was contacted today by another young widow who asked me about how to deal with the feelings of being so alone in the grief. It has been months since her husband's death and she said no one really asks her about him anymore. She is hurt by this and yet doesn't necessarily want to talk about him either. It is confusing and enraging.

I remember this. I remember the contradicting feelings and the frustration of not knowing what to do with them. You do your best to control them and suppress the immense anger you feel. However, is it healthy? What are the healthiest ways in which to deal with the anger and stress of grief? How does one deal with such intense loneliness and anger and stress and sadness all bottled up within?

I want to say that there is a perfect solution. I want to be able to tell others that you can just do this or that and it makes it all better. The sad truth is that there really isn't much I can say. There are small things here and there. Small choices that added up create a path of healing. It is just that it isn't fast. It doesn't satisfy our desire for an immediate solution and it is a long, hard road.

The best advice I can perhaps give is to choose to find gratitude in your life every day. It can be as simple as food to eat, shelter over your head, your health or your job. Whatever it is, in choosing gratitude, you will eventually choose life. You will eventually choose a much happier life than the one you find yourself in now.

In dealing with the anger, I chose not to dwell in it, which was difficult and something I had to do daily, even hourly. I made myself acknowledge the good in my life, even when it seemed so small. I made myself do something new or I would exercise so that I would feel an endorphin high and ultimately find some gratitude. In doing so, these small expressions of gratitude blossomed and a garden of thanks grew.

Life will continue to throw its difficulties our way. Our job is to determine how we will respond. Life can be a difficult journey, but one in which somewhere along the way, if you choose gratitude, you find yourself eventually out of the darkness, feeling the sun on your face again as you notice the people smiling beside you.