She was minding her own business, focused on the task at hand, so she never saw it coming. She did not realize there was evil within reach, disguised as something so innocent . . . so ordinary.  She did not know until it was too late.

The situation as described could relate to any number of circumstances; in this particular instance, she is a child of seven, playing in her yard, attacked by a dog she had grown to trust over the few days he had been at her home. But it could have applied to almost any trip to the grocery store, any four-wheeler ride, any rotting tree limb or antique wiring or fill in the blank with some ordinary set of circumstances that ends in loss and devastation and grief.

Life doesn’t require Category 4 storms or 200 car pile-ups on the interstate or mass shootings to be instantly and forever altered. Even the most innocent of actions, the simplest of situations, can turn someone’s world upside down and leave it that way until the end of time.  And believe it or not, Death doesn’t even have to be involved.  Not all traumatic events in life will lay physical claim to it, but they will all change it, and rarely ever for the better.

If it had not been for a mother’s willingness to sacrifice herself and a brother’s love propelling him into danger to save his sister, the world would be minus one seven year old today. But there are wounds for each of them that will require time for recovery . . . and although the injuries inflicted will heal and the broken bones eventually mend, a great deal has been lost and there will always be scars, both physical and emotional, to remind them of that day.  It is the same with every tragedy in life that does not result in the ultimate loss.  The physical body may be spared and survival granted, but there are emotional scars that will never completely fade.  There is grief over the loss of a way of life just as there is grief over the loss of life itself.

When you read the updates on Facebook and you see this family’s gratitude for the overwhelming support they have received, you realize something very important—if you’re paying attention. Traumatic life events are handled best when they are not handled alone.  Knowing there are people who care and are willing to do whatever they can to help is one of the greatest blessings this world has to offer.  Joan Baez may have said it best when she penned the lyrics for the song “No Man Is An Island”, based on the poem by John Donne.

“No man is an island, no man stands alone. Each man’s joy is joy to me, each man’s grief is my own. We need one another, so I will defend, each man as my brother, each man as my friend.”

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