Tragedy Warrants a Response

The greater transgression than the tragedy itself is a failure to respond to the tragedy. The right response is the key that unlocks the success in suffering; the wrong response, however, is the noose that tightens the grip of suffering.
Suffering occurs at different levels, as do the responses. But one thing is certain: real faith makes all the difference. Whatever the reason tragedy has struck, it still requires a response. Suffering will have its way: It will open you up or close you in.
Remember, your insight of tragedy doesn’t have to be dictated by other people’s eyesight of the tragedy. Consider me, for example. I was the cause of tragedy, but that doesn’t exempt me from having to choose the right or wrong response of heart. Some eyes that view my disastrous event will only ever see me in a noose. That refusal to see an individual beyond his tragic circumstances prompts me to wonder: Who is the one really hung up?
My responsibility to tragedy is to shoulder it, not hang from it. Failure to respond in the right manner keeps the sensation of pain on the nerve, when what is required is that the suffering produces new insights and vision to navigate the pain on the nerve. Not to numb it, but to learn from it.
There is no public poll that determines a response, nor should there be. Rather, it is one’s personal role that delivers the right response. You see, when success is unlocked in suffering, it produces a soul that someone else will need to feel in order to get through their own tragedy—like a message of encouragement written in Braille on your soul, the soul of a fellow sufferer. In that vulnerable moment, their need for insightful comfort far outweighs their eyesight of the reason behind your tragedy.
Tragedy is universal and inescapable; many are not sure which way to go in their pain. They may have a key in their right hand and a noose in the other, and that is why your heart can help lead them to right response. The right helping hand brings success and not suffocation. The right helping hand is always part of God’s plan. The right helping hand is the insightful hand that extends God’s heart through suffering.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (II Corinthians 1:3-4).
ED. NOTE: The author and professional athlete of Court House is serving five-and-a-half years in state prison after pleading guilty in October 2009 to manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. His blogs have been read by over 500,000 people in every state, 121 countries, and in 67 different languages. You can learn more at www.themattmaherstory.com.