Meetings At The Edge

In preparation for my new job as funeral counselor, I have special ordered a number of books about grieving and dying and death. One book which I got from the library the other day on a whim is Stephen Levine's "Meetings At The Edge: Dialogues with the grieving and the dying, the healing and the healed."

I hadn't looked at the contents when I borrowed it, the title sounded good, and I know that he's published a lot of books about dying.

I opened the book about 20 minutes ago, and chose a chapter about a woman whose 16 year old daughter had been violently raped and murdered.

When I was applying for the job, the manager told me that I would be facing people whose babies had died, etc. I myself pondered the etcetera's, but wondered how I could sit best with such people, as they don't really have any training.

I'm glad I've picked up the book, and I will look into the various studies and literature about violent deaths because there is important information that I can see helps the people left behind. An obvious thing that Levine focused on, was that the imagined horror of the mother is repeated a million times, but that it only was experienced by her daughter once. He goes on to site many anecdotal recounts of people who have survived similar situations and people who nearly died by drowning, that a separation of mind from body seems to occur during such violent happenings and isn't experienced with the same, nor repetitive terror as can be imagined.

I'm not saying I'll have answers, but honestly, this helps me to at least sit in the same room as a person having to deal with this regarding a loved one.

I have a rough, rocky, amazing road to travel for awhile.