Grief Fatigue

Dealing with grief is a process. It helps to share it.

Apollo and Artemis Attacking the Children of Niobe by Jacques-Louis David, 1772 (public domain - Wikipedia)

“Grief, loss, regret are not the end of the story. They are the middle of the story. Memory does not look backward, it looks forward.” — Anne Michaels, 2020

We’re in the middle of a story, alright. One that seems like the film Groundhog Day. The pandemic rages on, and too many of our fellow citizens are going about their lives like nothing’s any different.

And it’s causing a good deal of grief.

If you want a sense of the ultimate grief, take a look at the image above.  Jacques-Louis David depicts a scene out of The Iliad and ancient Greek mythology.

Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus and the queen of Thebes. She had 12 or 14 children (depending on which story you read) and showed her hubris by chiding Leto for only having two children.

Well, when you’re a daughter of Titans and your two children are the gods Apollo and Artemis, and (get this) you’re the goddess of motherhood — thin…