Mrs. Blessed, I'm glad you posted on these things. I tried to convey a similar thought when I wrote about what I call the "grief groups" that I have witnessed for far too long.
I keep waiting for a circle of weeping folks, wailing for the deaths of the two kids in Knoxville, TN to appear on the news.
Howdy, Mrs. Blessed,
I agree. The students at my child's college changed their Facebook profile pix to reflect the "We are all Hokies" idea...for a few days. Now they've changed them back to the usual photos.
I guess you could say it would be more appropriat for them to have said "We are all hoky."
God bless,
Laurel
p.s. May I link to your blog over at Natural Consequences?
Laurel, I would be beyond honored!
Mrs. B.
>>These cookie-cutter notes do nothing but make the SENDERS feel better.
It takes a special kind of spirit to complain about someone expressing grief, and judging that it is not even quality grief. Yikes.
THANK YOU. Yes, this has been bothering me, too. This is an exercise in feeling better about _yourself_, not the VTech victims.
I'm happy that somebody actually had the courage to write this.
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Yes, Edward, I do contend that vicarious grief lacks quality. Nicely put. Thank you.
~~Mrs. Blessed
So, so, SO, very right! Grief expressed via consensus can't help but devolve to the blandest common denominator.
Can I go off on a tangent? Because there's a pretty egregious example that was announced recently and it's really turning my stomach: the flight 93 memorial. Only the government would believe that a committee's aesthetic judgement of grief could be more appropriate than the sincere outpourings and offerings of those who chose to say their goodbyes without a compensation motive attached...
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Co...13/
680yigrm.asp
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