"When Tragedy Comes"

e-pistle from Bishop Mike

January 3, 2005

"When Tragedy Comes"

The news of the December 26th tragic tsunami in the Indiana Ocean and surrounding countries is truly overwhelming. The death toll continues to rise, and the future indeed looks bleak for thousands more as they try to recover from this tragedy.

It is heartening to see the response of caring individuals and nations as money, medicine, supplies, and rescue teams pour into that region. Somehow tragedy always brings out the best in the human family as we reach out to care for one another. I am proud to read that our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is already working in partnership with other relief organizations, and I know that our larger Methodist family (including the autonomous Methodist Church of Indonesia) is responding in many additional ways. Probably the best thing we can do here in America is to send money through UMCOR or other legitimate relief agencies. The other "best thing" we can do is to pray and to care.

In the meantime, it is important to reflect upon how tragedy impacts all of us. The average American goes through a major, life-changing transition every 18 months. Some of those transitions are truly tragic (like divorce, loss of job, death of a loved one, personal illness, etc.), while others are filled with potential for good but always confront us with difficult changes (retirement, last child leaving home, job transfers, etc.).

My experience with the blizzards and floods of the Dakotas taught me that "tragedy" is often more a function of our reaction to an event than it is the actual event itself. I do not want to minimize in any way the terrible tragedy resulting from the December 26th Tsunami or the pain from any other tragic event. However, it seems that the same "tragic" event produces very different results in different people. Some people fall apart in the face of tragedy, others rally their strength and faith in truly amazing ways. How can this be? Evidently the tragic event, in and of itself, is not the answer. Rather, it is our own reaction to the tragic event which determines finally whether it will be experienced as a "tragedy" or as a something which produces an opportunity to grow and overcome. Put simply, it is the difference between facing tragic events as a "victim" or as a "survivor."

Certainly the December 26th Tsunami produced thousands of victims who had little or no opportunity to be survivors. But it is also heartening to hear the courageous stories of others who managed to be survivors.

How will all of us face this New Year? Certainly every year brings possibilities of tragic events coming into our lives. Will we face those tragic events as victims, or as survivors? May God be with those impacted by the December 26th Tsunami. And may God be with all of us this year and give us strength, courage, and faith to be survivors.

from Bishop Michael J. Coyner

Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church
"Making a Difference ... in Indiana
and around the world"

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