Everything is Going to be Okay

"Everything is going to be okay", but it isn't.  As a chaplain at our hospital, folks will say this in the midst of a health crisis or death.  I never understand why.  I am a very compassionate person, and I think it is a lie.  No, everything is not going to be okay.  I have not felt like those silly people who say "everything is going to be okay" until today.

I learned that my friends who teach abroad were hit by a drunk driver in a taxi, injuring most and killing my dear friend's dad, well, he was my friend too.  Now my friend is being flown to Dubai to get medical care, with her husband and mother in law, leaving behind the body of a wonderful father.  I am sitting by Facebook waiting for updates, calling my friends, and telling myself this very lie, to make the time go by.
 Everything is going to be okay.  Everything is going to be okay.  Everything is going to be okay.
I'm going to have to change my mantra, I know,  but for now this little lie is getting me through the moments of uncertainty.  It is all I can muster, in terms of hope, during these long hours of unknowing.

The truth is, it is not going to be okay, it is too late for that.  It's not even an appropriate response.  This tragedy has changed the trajectory of my friends' lives for ever.  As time is ticking by, and we numbly and distractedly sit in a place of worry and unknowing, it is not too late to hope.

Sending all my love and hope across two continents, an ocean, and several seas to you Katie, Peter, and Ellen.