Grief's Fractured FairyTales

            Grief and fairy tales aren’t obvious dinner companions. Not the Disney versions, anyway.

            When we’re grieving, we would dearly love for someone to ride in on a great white horse and rescue us. This seldom happens. What we get instead is a coyote who appears on the trail and says, “Walk this way,” and heads into the darkness.

            There is no “happy ever after” because our loved one is dead and this is never going to change. In real life, our life might end up being pretty good way down the road, and there might be goo-gobs of joy, but any life after death will always come with a side order of grief.

            There are several reasons why we cling to the Hollywood versions of fairy tales:

            1. We liked them when we were children, and they remind us of the innocence of then. They’re comforting, like our warm, fuzzy memories of childhood that leave out all the unpleasantness. We like their message that no matter what happens, we can still get what we want. We didn’t understand then that dead meant forever.

            2. We love the idea of noble quests, especially when normal people confront their fears, battle great odds, and succeed. They give us hope for dealing with the struggles in our lives even if this hope is grounded more in wishful thinking than in reality. Also, the stories have adventures, the good and bad people are clearly identified, and there’s that damn happy ending.

            3. We believe that if we follow the rules, then everything will work out and we’ll be happy. In “Little Red Riding Hood,” Red was to obey her mother and stay on the path because of the dangers of the forest. She didn’t and got into trouble. Yes, life would be less stressful if everyone followed the rules, but it would also be less interesting because it would stifle individual creativity. 

            4. We want to believe that the universe is good, that people are good, and when something bad happens, it’s a mistake and a surge of good will come and restore balance. We want to think that everyone wants to be kind to other people. Yet there is evil, and cancer, and too many people we love still die.

            The real fairy tales, the authentic ones, tell a far different story. They are reacting to the harshness of life and the darkness that flows through the world. They are complex, unresolved, and deal with the horrors of famine, plague, and war. There is murder, blood, and death.

            People who are grieving know the darkness that lives in the world. While we may hope that someone will magically appear and reverse the loss, deep down we know this isn’t going to happen. No woodcutter, superhero, girl with a wand, fairy godmother, or knight of the Round Table is going to appear. There will be no Disney ending. 

            We need to set wishful thinking aside and do something. We have to gird up our loins, gather our courage and head into the Dark Forest of Formidable Grief, where we confront our fears.

            As we make our way through the Massively Tangled Thickets of Guilt, we run across someone who listens to our grief, and makes us feel accepted. Further on we find someone who is so compassionate that we feel our hearts lift, and we meet someone brave like Frodo who is in way over his head yet won’t let himself give up. Someone else is incredibly wise, and we write her words on our palms to guide us on the path ahead. 

            We meet more people and nothing magical happens, except the magic of community where we share what we have and help each other make it through this day, and then the next. As we journey along, we stop worrying about how slowly we’re moving over the Steep Mountain of Immense Despair because on most days the light on the horizon seems a little brighter and a little closer.

            Later on we find someone with antlers on his head and bells on his ankles who cries while dancing for the beauty of life and the beauty of death, and we realize that even after we have crossed the River of Inarticulate Sorrow and entered the Land of Unimaginable New Beginnings, we will always remember our former lives and the long, hard journey through grief because now they are part of our story, the story that begins, “Once upon a time ….”