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Grieving In Henry David Thoreau's Playground

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Imagine this, you're ten years old again, you find yourself at a playground. You scope it out and come upon this colossal slide. The tunnel is daunting, far reaching and winding, the expedition seems skyscraping. Apprehensive, your journey begins. Up the stairs you ascend, they feel foreign under your tiny feet. Making it to the peak, you see the horizon. It is miniscule, circular in shape and it is projecting a beam of light. You take the plunge into the tunnel. It is an enclosed horrifying darkness. The end feels nonexistent, you are frightened. Feeling overwhelmed, you panic. Finally, just as it begins to be too much, you make it to the bottom, inhaling the fresh air you feel relieved. Now imagine you're stuck. Stuck climbing up the stairs, …show more content…

Many people assume that grief follows a definitive guideline, that it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is inaccurate. The grieving process is a contorted one, much like the tunnel of the slide. For a moment life can seem normal, as if nothing has happened and you might manage to get back in your everyday routine, you may even manage to find some peace. This moment will be brief. Then, before you know it, you find yourself in an inescapable downwards spiral. You will catch a glimpse of something that brings back memories from the past, it may be a song, maybe a movie, a quote, or sometimes for no good reason at all you will find grief sneaking up on you like an unexpected, uninvited house guest that you're forced to …show more content…

You will have this false hope that your loved one may come back if you plead or make a deal with God. You may offer to go to church more or stop a bad habit. You may even go as far as offering your own life in turn for theirs. Eventually you will find that it is hopeless. This hopelessness may lead to the final stage, depression. At some point you will experience depression. You may become stuck in this stage for what may seem like an eternity. This stage I find is the most difficult. It is a boundless black hole that engulfs you completely. It drains your whole world of color, steals away all your happiness, and magnifies all of your sorrows. All in all, you will find that everyone has their own experience. There is no right or wrong definition of grief. But, according to Dictionary.com grief is a noun. It is the keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss. If you ask me grief is not that easily defined. Grief is unique to everyone. It knows no boundaries, it knows no depth, it is uncensored, it is raw. Grief is a repetitive experience that has no final place of destination. It is a life altering

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“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim” says Vicki Harrison, the author of Dressed to Thrill. Learning to swim is something that almost everyone can achieve. Just like swimming in the ocean, no matter how overwhelming it can become, everyone can learn to cope with their grief.

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I have felt the sunrise. Rays of light refract through shadows of bare soldiers frozen mid battle. The murmurs of life silently pause to admire the sun's song. Nighttime slithers away, leaving the coldest moments of the day to juxtapose the warm hues dancing on the horizon. These actions begin each day, yet I cannot imagine another human ever feeling the light approach as I have.

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However, there is a positive side of grief if one looks for it. It is growth. One may grow in various ways out of loss and grief. Months or years after the grief experience when one has recovered from the emotional devastation, one can see traces of growth as a result of going through a painful experience. Some people are able to see positive changes as a result of the unfortunate situation.

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