Posted on 12/22/2005 1:14:17 PM PST by beyond the sea
I have watched my parents bury two of my four siblings, the most recent just six weeks ago, when we laid to rest my brother. He would have celebrated a birthday on Thursday. I have witnessed the raw emotion that accompanies such a tragic event.
So when the ESPN.com editors dispatched an e-mail Thursday morning, seeking a reactionary column to the death of James Dungy, the 18-year-old son of Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and his wife, Lauren, I approached the laptop keyboard with this firsthand reality: Not even the greatest literary giants of this or any other time are capable of crafting words sufficient to assuage the profound grief that is inherent to the passing of any parent's child.
Admittedly more hack than wordsmith am I, so there isn't a single syllable of this column that can adequately console the Dungy family on their loss, or even remotely make sense of the situation. Editors have a pet term, "weighing in," on such stories. But words, even the sort of eloquent prose of which I'm rarely capable, carry little gravitas at these times.
To say nothing, though, in such cases is to essentially be as hollow as the hollow words themselves, and so some sincere effort is surely in order.
There is a devastating incongruity that transpires when the circle of life suddenly comes unraveled, and parents are called upon to bid an early farewell to a child. The celebrity imposed upon Tony Dungy and his family because of his station in life will neither lessen nor exacerbate what certainly must be the most painful experience imaginable.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Merry Christmas to you, and my sincere thoughts of all who have lost a child.
I also pray that this loss at this particular time of year does not color 'a quiet or cold gray' the future Christmases of this close and good family.
I agree with you. I have never even heard of the person(s) who died. Yet this is all over the news. People die every day in America; some in very tragic situations. I don't think it's necessary to make every tragic, pointless, untimely demise national news.
How heartbreaking this story is. Should the Colts win the Super Bowl the Coach's heart will still be broken. It is almost like the son was trying to hurt his father by destroying what could have been his greatest achievement in coaching.
How horrible for a parent to feel his children could not reach out to him when feeling like this.
I lost my wife at a very young age (43) and that still grieves me intensely if anything like this were to happen to our boys I don't know if I could stand it.
Just....don't
You are so right. Amazing though, how those griefs often push us to be better than we normally would be. In my case it pushed me into God's arms, and my life became one dedicated to service in His Kingdom. My prayers and my heart goes out to the Dungy family.
Tony and Lauren Dungy has already found it and his name is Jesus.
I disagree. When good people die and good families are struck, it should be an example that it is not all crime and slime who suffer in the news. (case in point: Tookie Williams being "deified" by the Hollywood press).
I hestitate to change this thread into something else, but I think you're right. There is too much emphasis being placed on death. It happens everyday...I was watching our local news the other day, and half the show was about a little girl who died in a swimming pool. Now, it's tragic for the family...but...why is this news to me or to anyone else watching? Maybe a mention would have been ok..but they interviewed the family, the neighbors, reporters were all over the place... I mean...come on! Enough.
Yes, and it's also horrible the other way around .............. for a child to feel that his parent could not reach out to him or her before taking their life.
I beg to differ. This thread I began is intended to be about faith............. and dealing with very deep family pain.
And, a loss in this season ...............
And, a loss in this season ............... of Christ.
Tragic for that family and many prayers for all of them.
Yes, my Godparents lost a child years ago - they aged at least 15 years over night.
It is past all understanding that, historically, most people lost half? most? of the children born to them.
Coach Dungy has an enduring source of strength, he is a Christian.
My flesh and my heart fail;But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-27
For You have been a strength to the poor, A strength to the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, A shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Isaiah 25:3-5
But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:30-32
Amen.
I can assure you that the fact that the son died 3 days before Christmas has no bearing on their feelings this Christmas. The pain of the loss is too great and it wipes everything else out of their minds, even Christmas. Next year Christmas will be painful for them, and every Christmas in the future will be tainted with the loss of him.
Dungy is not only a "celebrity" (not how I suppose he regards himself), but a known man of integrity, faith and respect -- and yes, it's football season, the Colts and all that, so this does make it "news"...
As to those 2000+ brave troops who've paid the ultimate sacrifice, their pain and anguish is no less, and you're right -- the families will not receive the "support" a person of Dungy's stature will receive, but that is because most remain "unknown." We've actually seen Dungy and heard Dungy and "know" Dungy.
Personally, I am as affected and pause in prayer when I hear ANY news that 2,3, 4 more of our guys have died or been hurt in the line of duty.
Unfortunately so.
Thanks for the ping.
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