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Stages of Grief Lament for a Son

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Submitted By Dejay77
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Running head: STAGES OF GRIEF

Stages of Grief
Delores Clayton
Grand Canyon University
Religious in Health Care
HLT-310V
Gary Shields
August 22, 2015

In this essay I will be completing my report from the book “Lament for a Son” not only written but also lived by Nicholas WolterstorffIn. In this book the author/character talks about his painful recollection and how his life has changed since his son that was 25 year old has pass away from a climbing accident in Austria. While reading the book I was able to transcribe how the author exhibited the different stages of grief which he is was experiencing. Toward the end of the book and where author was able to find peace through the faith he had in God. Nicholas the author account of the occurrence and grief-stricken is upright and stunningly written. I feel that he had written the book true character and stories to motivate others who is experiencing loss. There is five stages of grief that is expressed in telling his life story, they signify how the stages help lead the author to find joy after his loss. The author was able to explain the allusion and connivance of death in light of the Christian description and how the hope of the reappearance/ return to life, played a role in consoling Wolterstorff. This story started off with the author receiving a phone call, in regards to his son Erick falling to his death. He immediately heads to where his son resided so that he can claim Eric's his sons body, after arriving where his sons body laid the author was advised not to see his son, because it was scrawled and mangled by the accident.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross proposed that all individuals suffering loss live through diffeent stages of grief while learning to emotional deal with their loss. Kubler-Ross referred to this temporary change as the grieving steps which include, anger, bargaining, depression, denial and acceptance. It has been noted that these stages don’t necessarily happen in the said order and they are unique to each individual depending on their response to their stage of grief there in. Lament for a Son, the author distressingly exhibits all the stages of the grief process. In the stage of denial it has appeared to be short lived and temporary in being that the ending of his sons life happened so sudden. He made it clear that the instant in which he was informed of the death of his son, he was not willing to accept his lost, “For three seconds I felt peace of resignation: arms extended, limp son in hand, peacefully offering him to someone-Someone. Then the grief agony and the pain, the cold burning pain” (Wolterstorff, 1987). His anger is articulated in the reading in which he interrogate, “Why did he do it? Why did he climb that mountain? Why didn’t he stay on flat earth? Why did he climb it alone? Why didn’t he go with someone, roped up safely?” The author had so many questions to why his child was climbing alone. He knew that Eric whether have peace and quiet over the conversation of the people he do not know when his peers were unreachable. Even after some time passed the author still questioned why did this happen, it bothered him so. In the apartment where Erick resided the author found notes that was written by Erick’s peers who had come to visit him, they were saying that they had never seen him so passionate, he was getting prepared for the climbing marathon with his friends in the summer. With all that the author has experienced thus far he had been wondering if it would be harder to deal with the death of a son who had so much potential in life, so many more shoes to fill and obstacles fulfill, versus him dying weak and tired from some form of sickness or disease. He inquired if saying their goodbyes would have made losing him less painful. He envisioned how each death is unique. Wolterstoff says, “And one child’s death differs from another not in intensity of the pain it causes but in the quality” (Wolterstorff, 1987). In this passage here he has a lot of emotions coming out and it shows the depression in regards to the grief. He think about his son’s future and laments “all that could and should have been, and realize that it will never be” (Wolterstorff, 1987). His dealing and bargaining is part of his belief in God and his agreement to end all suffering through the return to life. The author explains to his family it is now time to learn how to cope with Erick being gone and now they need to learn to live without his existence, but always remember. The author’s faith in God brings him to have faith that he one day will again talk to Erick with the return to life. With all the questions the author was asking God, his faith got stronger and he began to look at his son’s death in a different light. With his Christian faith he started feeling that God suffers with everyone; mourners are consoled by the tears of God. Jesus Christ acknowledge grievers, reassuring that they will be consoled. God is love, and love is suffering, so God is suffering. When God's cup of suffering is full, redemption will be fulfilled. (Wolterstorff, 1987). The author has come to the conclusion that he will live with the certainty of Eric's death, but clearly stated that his wounds will remain. At this time he began to feel that in his time of suffering, it just somehow could be a blessing. It has been made very clear that it is hard to see it as a blessing when the agony and pain hurts so bad.

References
Bible Concordance: "lament" | Learn The Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.learnthebible.org/bible/concordance/23659
Lament for a Son Quotes by Nicholas Wolterstorff. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/143026-lament-for-a-son
Lament for a Son Summary & Study Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-lament-for-a-son/#gsc.tab=0
Oxford University Press. (1989). The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books : New Revised Standard Version. New York: Author.

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