Thoughts on parallel tragedies

Tragedy: a medieval narrative poem or tale typically describing the downfall of a great man;  a disastrous event.

Sometimes there is no logical resolution to a tragedy and the story leaves us with deeply felt feelings and questions but few words to explain what we should think or say.  The following is NOT about what happened in Boston this week, but about another of perhaps several tragedies that happened in the same time frame. We pray for healing and peace for all involved in Boston and in Wisconsin.

My sister Jean wrote this from Wisconsin last week. 

A Heartbreaking time for our Synod

Our (Lutheran) bishop, Bruce Burnside, was driving while intoxicated last Sunday aft. on his way to install a lay pastor in Sun Prairie. He was driving erratically on Hwy. 151 and when he exited he hit a car, a traffic light, a woman on the median waiting to cross, another car and then left the scene of the accident. The woman was 52 years old and ran every day on a five mile loop near her home. She died instantly and leaves a 12, 17 and 19 year old and a husband to mourn her loss. Bruce's wife died a year ago of a very aggressive cancer but everyone thought he was doing pretty well. I guess he was a pretty good actor. So, we're all in shock, feeling terrible for the family, for Bruce and our congregations. He was up for re-election in 3 weeks and now after being in jail for 4 days has entered a treatment center.

My friend and the publisher of my book, Donald Tubesing, a member of one of the Lutheran congregations in Madison wrote this in an attempt to work out some of his feelings.

Thoughts on the parallel tragedies

A tragic death

A tragic life crash

A complex combination of causes precedes most tragic events.

Looking back we can often identify the various contributors:

Lack of attention, Fatigue, pushing beyond boundaries,

Poor judgment, bad luck, a hurried pace, a harried pace,

Perceptual error, loss of balance, momentary distraction

Small risks taken for convenience—risks we expect to get away with.

When looking back we can see the cluster of predictors.

Looking forward, however, we see none of these harbingers.

Hundreds of times each day we take calculated risks

To make our lives work smoothly,

and, we expect no negative consequences

Then, one day — BAM — we lose the bet,

and the risk we took demands a price.

In most cases we’ve previously cut the same corner

and taken a similar risk before—often many times.

Always before everything has turned out well

— up until now.

Then, on that once in a million occasion, we lose the risk.

It catches us by surprise, and requires we pay in full

the sometimes disastrous, life-destroying consequences

And we cry out, “Why?... Why did I do that?”

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We all make mistakes.

Most of us get by unscathed most of the time.

When, from time to time, the calculated risk catches one of us,

It can crush us in a cluster of tragic consequences that destroys our life forever.

The rest of us move on,

feeling heart sick inside,

but also a bit relieved and lucky,

resolving to do our best,

while knowing that we, too,

remain at risk.