Last summer I watched a new series on HBO called The Leftovers. The basic premise of the show was 10 percent of the world’s populace up and disappears. Gone. The survivors, those you left behind, must try to understand this new world and mourn for their losses. Many assume this is the Biblical Rapture, foretold in the Book of Revelations.
It got me thinking about what would happen if this occurred in the real world. Current world estimates are that about 10 percent of the world is disabled in some sort of way. Not that I would ever want 10 percent of the world to disappear, but imagine if it was all the disabled of this world, finally at peace. These are deep, and what some would say, morbid thoughts. But I am a parent of a special needs child, and I pray every day for an end to his suffering, emotional and physical. I want him to have the best life possible.
Tourette Syndrome is a wax and wane type of thing, with no predictability whatsoever. Sometimes my son knows when he is ticcing, and sometimes he is blissfully oblivious. Lately those tics have been fierce and loud. And he knows it. I’m not sure if it’s cause of the concussion he’s been healing from, or if this would have been the natural progression of events. But he’s in pain, and I can see it in his eyes. He feels like the rug got pulled out from underneath him, and he doesn’t like it. How do I tell him to keep hoping, to believe things will get better, when he can only see what’s right in front of him? These are hard times for him, and I hope there is another side to this he will come out of soon.
I read a book about 20 years ago called Embraced By The Light. It’s about a woman who has a near-death experience and sees angels and heaven. She talks to God, and he tells her those who suffer the most on this world actually chose that path before they came here. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it comforts me in an odd sort of way. I have to keep hoping, because the opposite, it’s not a fun place.
