ANDERSON W. WILLIAMS
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Thank you for being broken with me

4/27/2017

7 Comments

 
Picture
​I try to write something each year partly in remembrance of my Dad but mostly out of a commitment to being open and honest about his suicide, and what it means for me, and all of my family, to be living with suicide.
 
I wasn’t sure what to write about this year. I wasn’t sure how to capture what it means to be living with suicide 11 years in. I wasn’t getting any lightening bolts of new insight or inspirations for how to communicate my experiences meaningfully.
 
Today is the day.
 
And then, this morning, around the time when my Dad ended his life, my family began circulating communications acknowledging each other and reminding each how much we love the other. So began my first tears of the week.
 
Life is humbling, whether we are living with suicide or not. And, the relationships that both remind us to be humble and bolster us when we feel broken are our lifeblood. Being broken isn’t bad. It’s just being human. So, attempts to avoid or shield ourselves from being broken, or pretending we aren’t to some degree already are self-defeating. They are a front, hiding who we are from those around us, limiting our ability to touch the world genuinely, and preventing it from touching us. Acknowledging and sharing our brokenness and piecing ourselves back together with others is our greater calling – the pathway to our becoming more fully human, to developing relationships and lives that matter.
 
As I reflected on the emotions stirred by my family’s messages, I realized that this is why. Living with suicide is about being broken. It is about a shared vulnerability and a responsibility to love and appreciate those who are also broken – all of us.
 
We are all living with something. Wouldn’t it be nice if we just acknowledged this and met each other with a note of appreciation, love, and humility?
 
Thank you for being broken with me. 

7 Comments
Julie Ann (McNamee) McRae
4/27/2017 07:59:22 pm

Beautifully written Anderson!

Reply
David Brooks
4/27/2017 09:41:29 pm

So true. Yesterday was the day my sister in law was killed by a drunk driver nineteen years ago. Always a reflective time. Thinking of you.

Reply
Anderson
5/1/2017 08:12:59 am

Sending my best your way as well, David.

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Jessie Rosenblum link
4/28/2017 06:48:09 am

Really beautiful and resonates so much with me. Thank you for sharing and being open about a hard topic.

Reply
John Hilley
4/28/2018 07:50:58 pm

This just confirms that I need to have you come out and be a guest preacher some Sunday. Imagine that! Such a tender piece. Thank you for sharing

Reply
Anderson
4/29/2018 04:27:43 pm

Sounds like a plan good Reverend! Thanks for the kind words.

Reply
Michael Burcham link
4/27/2020 02:02:34 pm

A beautiful post Anderson. Those of us living with such loss feel a permanent sense of being broken. But in reality - everyone likely has some feelings of being broken. It's in sharing our vulnerability that support, light and love shines through the cracks in our broken state - and hence (as you pointed out in your earlier post) - the light gets in.

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