In grief, make the world better
Most of us are aware of the terrorist attacks that took place in London, England on June 3, and that a B.C. woman, among others, died on London Bridge in the arms of her fiance. A rented van had “plowed through a crowd of pedestrians” who were walking along the sidewalk.
Christine Archibald had grown up in Castlegar, but had moved to Europe to be with her husband-to-be, Tyler Ferguson.
Recently I was on a five day trip (June 4 to 9) to the Gulf Islands. On June 6, I picked up that days edition of the Victoria Colonist newspaper; and I was impressed with that paper’s response to Archibald’s tragic death. The editorial was entitled “In grief, make the world better.”
The writer said, “If tragedy brings out the best in some people, few live that better than the family of Christine Archibald... At a time when their hearts are breaking, the family of the 30-yearold issued a statement that not only paints a loving picture of their daughter and sister, but calls the rest of us to compassion and to service.”
Later the writer said, “The senselessness of the death and wounds must be almost unbearable for the families of the victims. In the midst of such grief, anger is natural. Yet Archibald’s family summoned other emotions as they wrote their short statement:
‘We grieve the loss of our beautiful daughter and sister. She had room in her heart for everyone and believed strongly that every person was to be valued and respected. She lived this belief, working in a shelter for the homeless .... She would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death. Please honour her by making your community a better place. Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter. Tell them Chrissy sent you’.”
The writer also reminds us that there are many people in more violent parts of the world who experience tragedy, and their grief is no less than we in the West experience. As he says, “We also see how people around the world find the strength to go on, to rebuild around the holes that will always be part of their lives from now on.”
The Archibald’s hope is that we will do more than just carry on with life as we experience it. The writer suggests that, as the Archibalds did, we work toward making the world a better and more caring place in which to live.
It may require a lot of determination on our part to make that happen. But surely it is worth the effort. May it be so for us! Harvie Barker is a Penticton resident who writes a column with inspirational messages. This column appears on select Mondays in The Herald.