Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - 4

Finding Meaning FAITH
One Brick
at a Time
BY ERIN PERKINS
Life is synonymous with grief. To be human is to experience
grief; it's inevitable. Having to deal with grief is not fair, and
it keeps no account of how much we have already endured
or how much we have already had to grieve. Neither is
it a discriminator of age, race, or ethnicity. In essence,
experiencing grief is a highly relatable norm in this life, and
it has no actual rules. Yet, it has come to my attention in
the last two years, that our society attempts to make rules
and formulas for grief, as if each individual is somehow the
same. But, we aren't are we?
We each see the world from our own personal experiences, and our exposures in, or
outside of our control. We all face grief, but handling it is an individual artform. Still,
there are ways we as a society, in our communities, could release the stigma, formula, and
timelines of grief, and learn how to be with someone who is grieving. What if we could
be allowed to experience grief the way we needed to, without pressure, in community;
what if we could simply allow grief to be a part of us, unpacking bits of it as our own
feelings and abilities allow, taking steps to move forward alongside the grief, instead of
expecting it to have an end date?
4
ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM
DECEMBER 2021
I think of what the elf
princess, Arwon, in
" Lord of the Rings "
says when her father
is hoping she will
choose to go with the
other elves and stay
immortal instead of
face what he calls " only
death. " She says, " But,
there is also life. "

http://www.ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM

Elephants and Tea - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Elephants and Tea - December 2021

Contents
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - Cover1
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - Cover2
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - 1
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - Contents
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - 3
Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - 4
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Elephants and Tea - December 2021 - Cover3
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