I was teaching in the rural northwest and a man said, "Grief is like telephone poles!" I asked him to explain, and he said, "I used to install telephone poles, and they can shake and fall. I told my partner that I would run if the pole started to fall. But he said, 'No, if it starts to fall, the safest thing to do is to head toward it and stand right up against it.' With grief, the healing is always found in the middle of suffering; the only safe place to be is with both hands right on it."~ Frank Ostaseski ~
Is all sadness grief? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe the sadness is about the loss of something...anything. What might have been.
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6 comments:
Not all sadness is grief. In my opinion, there is a big difference. One can be sad, but not be in the throes of grief.
I think they are distinct but can certainly coexist.
I think all grief includes sadness, but not all sadness includes grief. Another great quote, BTW.
A perfect post for me to read today, I think.
What a great quote. I think grief always contains sadness, but is a much bigger entity.
Thanks for all your thoughts and comments. I continue to ponder this off and on. What I keep coming to is that sadness (except for that which is a biochemical issue and cannot be attributed to anything in my current world) almost always has something to do with loss. Loss of dreams. Loss of an item or a loved one. Loss of the expected or desired outcome--expectations.
Truly, grief is more than sadness. I don't think that grief and sadness are exactly the same things. However, as I examine this, I keep coming up with the concept that sadness is almost always attached to some form of grief for me.
This may not be an important issue to examine further. I just find it interesting.
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