Bad News

A Chapter by Kathryn Smith

Air knocked out of my lungs

I want you to stay

When you hear something difficult don't back away

Some people say nothing good ones engage

I am all too familiar with bad news. I'll never forget the time when my Mother sat me down and told me my best friend didn't have much time left.

I remember standing before a hospital bed in a big city about to endure a 5 hour surgery for my eye. I was completely terrified and surrounded by darkness.

Hearing of the news everyday. Sometimes it's nothing but bad.

Wars

Ebola

Sandy Hook

Peshawar

and today the attacks in the city I call my love.

Paris.

Don't turn your back on me

Don't burry your head deep

Just because you don't know what to say

When we are faced with bad news what we really need is each other.

We need guidance. Some kind of crutch we can lean on.

What kills me the most is after something terrible happens, we go on with our day like it never happened.

I remember after hearing about the school shooting in Newtown, my Mother and I went shopping. Seeing the Christmas shoppers bustling though the streets laughing with cheer seemed so....wrong.

It may seem wrong but what else can we do?

We eat. We talk. We laugh, We cry, We love.

People fill the streets like nothing has changed

Clapped hands if you're lonely don't look the same

Planes fly overhead like any old day

I don't know about you, but I think there are more good people in this world than bad. We can at least only hope.

And even though the news everyday may seem bad, just think of all the good things that haven't made the news.

Maybe I just want some words of distraction

I feel like I'm being consumed

Maybe I'm expecting the perfect reaction to pull me back

The worst things seem to happen out of the clear blue sky..

When we aren't ready for them at all. The worse they are, it seems they come at the worst time possible.