I think it’s worse at the funeral of one. I’m sorry this family in Medicine Hat has to go through one. The Peppers’ young daughter died of head injuries sustained at her day care by the look of things but I want to remark on how this article is written regarding her life and dead future (because yes, it’s so full of religion – of course the dead can have a future).
MEDICINE HAT – The short life of a little “princess” was recounted in a few dozen photos shared in a heartbreaking slideshow.
While a tiny coffin, less than a metre in length, and a chapel full of teary-eyed mourners spoke to its ugly and unexpected end.
Without any answers to offer about her slaying, a pastor presiding over a funeral for Mercedes Christine Pepper, urged mourners to take comfort in one another and faith the toddler is now in heaven, safely out of harm’s way.
First off, I don’t get how this is reassuring. You don’t have your little girl any more, but don’t worry, you can still believe that God gets to play with her every day even though you can’t and will never see that kid become the person she may have become because you couldn’t protect her from the unexpected on that day, any more than you could have if she were 8, 12, or 42.
Pastor Jay Dryland said the death of the little girl, just a few months shy of her second birthday, is not part of God’s plan.
I find that line to be hilarious. Isn’t that opposite of the line usually pulled out to explain the untimely death of someone? Why would the pastor go this route rather than try and tell the grieving family that God called that child back for a reason they just don’t understand and can’t understand because only God knows what he wants to do, and what we’re supposed to do afterward? Maybe this is all a test of faith in God. Like Job lost everything, this loss is supposed to strengthen your love for God.. Yeah, I can’t buy that shit either. That’s probably why the pastor didn’t bother trying it.
“Even if we had the answers there would still be no adequate explanation for this loss,” he said.
I’d think head injuries and brain damage would be quite easy to explain, actually. Nothing anyone maybe wants to hear about in regards to anyone that young and blameless, but easy to explain.
“It is just painful and it is painful to God.
“It is not the will of the Father. God did not will Mercedes’ death or your pain, but God is with you.”
Again, taking an opposite route – if it’s not God’s plan, who’s left to blame here, the devil? Or is this all about the free will God supposedly let human beings walk out of Eden with? Left to our own devices to fuck ourselves up as much as we can so we can credit God only when the right stuff happens, and blame anything else for everything else that might go wrong in a day.
Dryland noted the child’s name means, ‘mercy,’ something he prayed for God to extend to all those suffering in the aftermath of the girl’s death.
Mercies, actually. Mercedes is (are?) technically plural although so rarely used that way, apparently. Except in Spain, I suppose, where the word originates.
Thousands of people, some from as far away as Calgary, have opened their heart and wallets to help the family she leaves behind.
Some 2,000 people have joined a Facebook site set up to offer prayers for Mercedes, while in just a few days about $12,000 worth of donations, from airline tickets to hotel stays and autographed sports memorabilia, have flooded in to go towards an online auction.
The prayers are pointless; the donations are astounding.
All the funds raised will go to the family to cover any financial costs and also show the community is rallied at their side, said one of the organizers, Ashley Christianson.
The mother of three said the auction is being planned, (www.32auctions.com) because it’s doing something at a time when little can be done.
Better an auction to raise money than waste time praying. I’m glad to see people were willing to put something together for this family so quickly. They couldn’t help but be moved by this level of generosity from strangers, I’m sure.
“You come home after hearing something like this and you want to hug your kids a little bit longer, kiss them goodnight ten more times,” the mother of three said.
Yep, you sure would. Every moment you can have with a person is a moment to treasure, no matter if that moment is exciting or banal or an argument or one hell of a make up session. Every moment has to be a gift you cherish. And yet so few moments are. And when those moments are gone, regrets are all you have left. And memories. No where near enough memories to make up for the regrets, though. No where near enough.
My heart goes out to this family and how much they have lost. All I can hope is that those few memories they will have of their darling daughter will still be enough to sustain them through this time.
One Minion's Opinion 