There was a devastating fire in Brooklyn on Friday night that left seven children from one family dead . Two other family members were severely injured. I do not think that I can add anything more that has not been already said. I do not know all of the details nor do I want to . When people get all of the the details they start making judgements and thats where all of the trouble begins.
Naturally, instead of dwelling on the details of this shattered family I will give my own thoughts.
Lately I have noticed more sirens than usual in Midwood, especially on shabbos. Every time I hear sirens I hope that I do not know the victims. This shabbos was really no different. I heard a lot of sirens and hoped I would not get to hear why they went off. This time I heard the story behind some of the sirens. Very upsetting. Fortunately I did not find out until after Shabbos.
When I turned on the radio (I know I'm old school) after shabbos I heard the story. They did not mention that they were frum, but I knew they were since they mentioned 7 children. I think what hit me most was the fact that someone had 7 children and I have none . No, this is not a pity party. Let me explain. I always fear being old and childless. When something like this happens it put things in perspective. Just because someone has something does not mean someone will always have it. This goes both ways. Life can change in a moment. The same way one can seemingly have it all one moment and then in another moment lose it all, one can have nothing and it can change. I have a friend who had lots of kids, but she unfortunately passed on at a young age and will not see her children grow up. I have other friends who married divorced or widowed men, One person's tragedy ends up with a simcha for someone else.
The other thing that I took notice of when I heard of this fire is the fact that this family had lived in Israel for many years yet this tragedy occurred in the United States.
The scariest part of parents losing children is that parents can't always withstand the pain. It can cause divorce.
One thing about life that one can count on is that it is always changing.Sometimes one can feel so paralysed from the sadness of life that you just don't feel like leaving the comfort of one's home. I guess a tragedy like this can help the get up and go because tragedy can chas v'shalom occur anywhere so one may as well do whatever one needs to do in the home or outside of the home. Life is precious and its meant to be lived.
That said, in memory of the seven children who lost their lives this shabbos, everyone needs to make sure their homes are fire proof and make sure they have working smoke alarms.
Naturally, instead of dwelling on the details of this shattered family I will give my own thoughts.
Lately I have noticed more sirens than usual in Midwood, especially on shabbos. Every time I hear sirens I hope that I do not know the victims. This shabbos was really no different. I heard a lot of sirens and hoped I would not get to hear why they went off. This time I heard the story behind some of the sirens. Very upsetting. Fortunately I did not find out until after Shabbos.
When I turned on the radio (I know I'm old school) after shabbos I heard the story. They did not mention that they were frum, but I knew they were since they mentioned 7 children. I think what hit me most was the fact that someone had 7 children and I have none . No, this is not a pity party. Let me explain. I always fear being old and childless. When something like this happens it put things in perspective. Just because someone has something does not mean someone will always have it. This goes both ways. Life can change in a moment. The same way one can seemingly have it all one moment and then in another moment lose it all, one can have nothing and it can change. I have a friend who had lots of kids, but she unfortunately passed on at a young age and will not see her children grow up. I have other friends who married divorced or widowed men, One person's tragedy ends up with a simcha for someone else.
The other thing that I took notice of when I heard of this fire is the fact that this family had lived in Israel for many years yet this tragedy occurred in the United States.
The scariest part of parents losing children is that parents can't always withstand the pain. It can cause divorce.
One thing about life that one can count on is that it is always changing.Sometimes one can feel so paralysed from the sadness of life that you just don't feel like leaving the comfort of one's home. I guess a tragedy like this can help the get up and go because tragedy can chas v'shalom occur anywhere so one may as well do whatever one needs to do in the home or outside of the home. Life is precious and its meant to be lived.
That said, in memory of the seven children who lost their lives this shabbos, everyone needs to make sure their homes are fire proof and make sure they have working smoke alarms.
1 comment:
Thank you for your wise words about this tragic event. It was very insightful.
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