Touch.
When we touch each other in a moment of grief, pain, doubt, loss… it means something. It means more than we can imagine.
If you cry alone, you feel alone. But if you cry with someone holding you; their arms around your shoulders.. you may still feel alone, but you KNOW you are not. Whether or not they can understand your fear or pain at what is to come, at what is happening, there is something about that grip of another, that helps.
Rubbing someone’s back - holding their hand - wiping a tear from their face or pulling back their hair - those guesturesj MEAN something. They stand for something.
We are not in this life alone.
We don’t feel pain alone.
We don’t have to weep… alone.
And whether or not we understand, we all know how it feels to hurt. How it feels to lose. How it feels to be scared.
We can stand by and watch. We can say, “I’m sorry.” We can glibly offer prayers. Or we can be there. We can touch.
I know I want to be there. To offer what little comfort I can to someone else. To give them strength they may not be able to summon themselves. To offer love.
And I know I want someone there for me. When the tears fall down my face, I want someone to comfort me not just with words - but with the love that comes only from their touching embrace.
We underestimate it. But it is invaluable.
Be there. Love.
Touch. For we are all human. And it’s better to go through the tough moments together….than alone.
