On behalf of President Edmonds and Members of the Rotary Club of Sudbury, permit me to convey our heartfelt condolences to members of family and friends affected by the tragic loss of 15 young people.
Please convey our shared sense of loss and grief to all those experiencing an unfathomable depth of loss and grief.
On 2018 April 9, Monday, at our General Assembly luncheon meeting we stood and offered our prayers to those who are immersed in pain.
The loss of so many young whose lives were ahead of them is not only a loss for their families, friends, and Humboldt, but is truly a loss for the nation.
As you know, grieving is both a process and a product. We need to go through the painful process in order to attain the product of accepting the loss. Time may help but we have to ascend the hill of sorrow all by ourselves. It is a lonesome journey. In that journey may I ask you and others if our companionship in sorrow is of some comfort to you all?
On a personal note, at 77.5, I have seen my share of grievous losses and comforted myself contemplating on the profound wisdom contained in the following passage by Aeschylus in Agamemnon:
“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God”.
