Three Points of View on the Topic of "Tragedy"

One time when I stayed late for a basketball game at my school, I was hanging with two of my best friends. We were sitting in the top bleacher of the basketball court, when suddenly Rivka* snatches the computer away from me. She starts typing and comes up with the first paragraph. I, because I wasn't actually paying attention to what she was doing with my computer, turned to see Cacey* snach the computer away from her and she churned out the second paragraph. We had to go our separate ways before she had finished, so I added mine opinion later at home when I read what they had worked on.

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Rivka:

Tragedy is an essential part of the human experience that I myself have never really learned to understand and never really had to deal with. Honestly. I can’t recall ever having to endure the wracking sobs that immediately follow the news of someone’s death. I’ve never had to hear the ridiculous terms that are often thought to mean death, such as “passed on” or “in a better place.” Those don’t mean death; the were invented by people to cowardly to face death. People dream up thrilling ideas of heaven and hell so that they don’t have to approach the idea of death alone. But it’s simple to understand, really. When you die, you go. You disappear. You are wiped off the face of the earth; a brilliant fire one minute, a wisp of smoke the next, with only ashes to remember you by.

Cacey:

Tragedy is not necessarily the death of a loved one, or someone at all. I have experienced tragedy at its very essence. My heart has been ripped form my body and stabbed multiple times… on multiple occasions. Tragedy simply is the immortal soul grieving. Although I agree with you, I also disagree with various aspects. The so called “ridiculous” terms are a way to make the grieving less, and also to deny the fact that, in fact, a very dear person will never be in your life again. Having personally experienced two deaths of very dear grandfathers in the space of 3 months, I understand the very essence of tragedy. Back to my point before, tragedy is not only a death. It is tragedy when someone you love doesn’t love you back. The same very feeling of m

Myself:

As the third point of view in this discussion, and as someone who lost a grandfather last Christmas (but was never very close to), I have to say that until you have truly loved someone so much that it hurts, I believe you cannot properly say that you have had your heart ripped from your body by their denial of your love. Tragedy is the immoral soul grieving, but the immoral soul of the living. When you die, you are not “wiped off the face of the earth” at all because you still very much live in the memories of the one who’s heart is grieving so far as to call it tragedy. There is so much more than ashes to remember the deceased by. Memories. People also come up with loose synonyms for death, such as “deceased,” “passed on,” “no more,” and “in a better place” because they have just been through an emotion that is so raw that the body has to have a name for why this beloved person (or thing) is no longer by their side. A good friend once told me that his body laughs in the face of tragedy or conflict, because his mind know that if the body were to try to do anything else, show any other emotion at all, the reaction would be to great for the body even if it isn’t for the mind. Using these replacements for “dead” is the minds way of dealing with the same situation of overbearing emotions that the body could be just fine with. It is the natural defense of the nervous system and the mind/body in order to keep the griever alive, even if they feel, consciously, that they can no longer stand to be on earth without their loss. Grieving takes time. We owe it to ourselves and to each other to feel the pain, to feel the fear, to feel the anxiety and, ultimately, to live the questions until the answers begin to reveal themselves to us.

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Rivka and I are both writers and Cacey, Rivka, and I are all 'A' students in English. This isn't our best writing, but it is some of the rawer stuff. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope it will make you think for at least a few minutes after you finish this.

This is a true narrative (the basketball part and the tragedy part).

*All names have been altered