The Ask Sharon column as it appeared in The Area News today Friday 17 April 2015 in honour of Stephanie Scott.
Following is a copy of the full version of the column featured in The Area News complete with the Life and Death card from the Miracle Cards.
Ask Sharon
Time to show compassion
My deepest compassion goes to the fiancé, family, friends, colleagues and students of Stephanie Scott. You are in our prayers.
This week I won’t be answering a question from an individual, I’ll be attempting to make sense of the unfathomable event that has been in the minds and hearts of our collective conscience this past week. An impossible task? Probably. Bringer of relief to some? Hopefully.
As I began writing, I was flooded with a heart-felt desire to bring peace and comfort where there has been much pain, sorrow…and disbelief.
There are many questions that have no answers. “Why should this happen?” produces emptiness rather than explanation.
The inner dialogue that offered a glimmer of light in the dark for me was:
“Do tragedies like this encourage us to enjoy the fullness of the precious life we have? Yes. Might we complain a little less about petty matters? I’d like to think so. Does an embrace from a loved one or the words, “I love you” carry more meaning now? Absolutely!”
I’ve accepted that we won’t be able to get our heads around something that rips at our hearts like this.
Today I have no practical advice or tips for there are no appropriate words of condolence that could be offered to a family who were planning a wedding and are now preparing a funeral.
Recently I tried to comfort a friend after we had buried a schoolmate, a young mother like us. It was the second friend I had farewelled in as many weeks from cancer. I realised it may have been too soon to utter these words, and once again it may be too soon to share them but to believe anything else about death, for me, is untenable.
The words were:
“When someone makes their transition through death they re-emerge and realign with the wholeness of who they really are – which ultimately is pure, positive, non-physical, source energy.”
This reflects my belief on death according to Esther and Jerry Hicks and The Teachings of Abraham. Others refer to death as going ‘home’.
By week’s end, I arrived at a message from Marianne Williamson’s, Miracle cards.
The Life and Death card is copyright to Marianne Williamson, 2002.
“Life is like a book that never ends. Chapters close, but not the book itself. The end of one physical incarnation is like the end of a chapter, on some level setting up the beginning of another”.
Our community has been rocked to its very core. Despite the cold hard facts of this case emerging, my heart has been warmed by signs that we are rallying and uniting. My hope is that collectively our spirit will continue to rise, but not in anger, not in hatred for another human being who did an inhumane thing. Can we channel that energy into support, compassion and love for one another?…I know we can.
Today’s card has been drawn from Marianne Williamson’s Miracle Cards. Image and card is copyright to Marianne Williamson, 2002.
If you need some guidance send an email to me at editor@areanews.com.au
