... I don't know what to say, really. Tragedy strikes and it can be incredibly painful to read about, what more to experience it as close as a bystander, witness or family member? 5 young, able-bodied, strong lads who have a future ahead of them; a freak accident; and then dead. How on earth, who'd have thought...? The 22 guys probably thought it was no biggie to row back after an exhausting race, exactly like what we think sometimes that it's no biggie to walk home alone at 11pm at night. But such things can happen - do happen - and like what my mom always used to say, happens in a matter of minutes that hit you so quick that there's no time for thought, rational action, life's flashbacks. Regret.
Very humbling. and necessarily so. That we can ambitiously plan our whole lives ahead, work towards short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, or be obsessed about relationships and having fun, when ultimately so many things just aren't within our control. And it's a painful reckoning, an almost self-annihilating surrender to inevitability, but ultimately... the truth, isn't it?
thankfully it doesn't end there, and reality doesn't have to be that dismal.
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev 21
My condolences and grief for the families of the 5, for the surviving rowers, for the captain who has to bear the weight of accountability, responsibility and sorrow. I pray that God will comfort those who mourn, and be near to the broken-hearted. Lord, be in that situation.
