I will be posting a separate section of the poem Just for Today to ponder every couple of days. The poem was written for bereaved parents by Vicki Tushingham. Feel free to share with others.
Just For Today For Bereaved Parents (Section 6)
Just for today I will free myself from my self-inflicted burden of guilt, for deep in my heart I know if there was anything in this world I could have done to save my child from death, I would have done it.
I have spoken to 100’s of grieving dads and the one thing we all have in common is guilt. We find so many ways to blame ourselves for what happened to our children. We go back and rethink things over and over. “If I would have done this different” or “I should have been there for them”. There are so many ways we find to blame ourselves. However, like this section of poem says, “deep in my heart I know if there was anything in this world I could have done to save my child from death, I would have done it.” If only for today you can find away to forgive whatever it is your thinking about, please try to do it. I believe guilt is a great destroyer.
I cried when I read this. Even though I have read nearly all parents feel they could and should have been able to do something to save their child’s life, it’s difficult not to feel terrible guilt. I am going to try following this today because I there is no doubt, “deep in my heart I know if there was anything in this world I could have done to save my child from death, I would have done it.”
Indian Homemaker,
I know the guilt that one carries. I am happy to see you found some encouragement in these words. We al would have doen anything we could have to save our children from death, but the guilt blinds us from that fact at times. It is good to have that reminder from time to time when the guilt starts to creep back in. Thank you for stopping by this blog and adding to the comments. Please stop by anytime.
Peace.
Kelly