Grief and Reflection, Essay Example

Abstract

This work examines the statement of C.S. Lewis concerning grief and reflects on this statement.

Grief

C.S. Lewis, stated in the work entitled: “A Grief Observed” as follows:

“Grief and pain are the price we humans have to pay for the love and total commitment we have for another person. The more we love, the more we are hurt when we lose the object of our love. But if we are honest with ourselves, would we have it any other way?”

Reflection

When my mother died I came to realize that loss is a very large part of love and that the closer we are to the person we lose, then the more that we lose at the time of the individual’s death and the deeper and longer that hurt is experienced. C.S. Lewis stated it rightly, when he said that grief and pain are a price paid by humans when they love another individual but he was right on point when he asked the question of whether we would have it otherwise. Indeed, it is the belief of this writer that we would not. There is a common saying that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all (author unknown) and it is my belief that this is absolutely true because to have never experienced the love of a mother would be a sad thing indeed because that love is an unconditional love like no other. There are those who are unfortunate enough to have never grieved their mother because their mother died giving birth and those individuals are so much poorer than those who have grieved at their mother’s death. Therefore, it is true that the price of love is eventually grief and pain due to the loss of the lives of those that we have loved but how much poorer indeed would one be to never experience such love and subsequent loss. To answer C.S. Lewis, this writer would say that indeed, we as humans would not have it any other way.

Manifestation of Grief

Grief manifests itself various depending on the individual. Some people experience depression and others sleeplessness. The healthy individual goes through stages of grief that eventually lead that person to resuming a normal life. When mother passed away, our father turned to alcohol, and this only exacerbated his depression however, he did eventually quit drinking, resumed a normal life, and remarried. On the other hand, my sister who is not as strong as I and my father still suffers deep depression and seems to grieve our mother as badly as if she had only passed away last week rather than ten years ago. Oftentimes, individuals need professional counseling to overcome grief.

Describe several ways in which you think grief manifests itself.

Include specific examples from your experience, the sayings in this exercise, and your readings in this course.