{"id":2385,"date":"2011-11-22T00:03:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T05:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2011-11-22T09:15:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-22T14:15:21","slug":"finding-beauty-in-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/11\/finding-beauty-in-tragedy.html","title":{"rendered":"Finding Beauty in Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, it\u2019s been a rough past couple of weeks, but I am hardly the only one. As I\u2019ve been open about my heartbreak<\/a>, I\u2019m encountering others who\u2019ve been going through the same lately. Seems like everyone has lost family members and dear friends unexpectedly, lost jobs and spouses, or money\u2019s been tight. We were all on what we thought was solid ground when the rug was ripped out from underneath us. What I\u2019m also finding is that, in spite of the pain, we are all also looking for the beauty.<\/p>\n

I know I talk a lot about finding the silver lining<\/a>, but it\u2019s entirely different when you\u2019re looking for that lining in a storm as opposed to a single cloud. Being happy and inspired in spite of your circumstances takes on a whole new meaning when those circumstances rattled you to your core.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>However, it still can be done.<\/p>\n

By the way, when I say “beauty”, I don’t necessarily mean “purpose”. The greatest scholars and philosophers of the world have no definite answer for why bad things happen to good people. So, set that fruitless search aside. I\u2019m talking about beauty \u2013 whatever transforms tragedy into triumph. It\u2019s the escape hatch in suffering that leads to something greater.<\/p>\n

You hear these stories more often than you think: the divorced single parent who goes back to school; the disabled athlete<\/a> who breaks world records; or, the woman who turns a cancer diagnosis into a wellness revolution<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Better yet, think about John Walsh<\/a>. In 1981, his only son was abducted and murdered. The pain that he felt is unimaginable in the face of such a sudden horror. The suffering of that loss could have swallowed him whole and made him a shell of a human being. Who would have blamed him? Yet, he turned the tragedy into a mission. Walsh dedicated his life to being an advocate for crime victims. He hosts one of the longest running reality shows, America\u2019s Most Wanted<\/em>, which has helped put more than a thousand criminals behind bars. He\u2019s raised awareness for child abduction, and in turn, has helped law enforcement reunite more than 50 children with their families. He became a champion for justice, yet none of that would have happened without the loss of his son.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what finding beauty in tragedy looks like. It\u2019s taking what was meant for evil and turning it into good.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you\u2019re having trouble finding the beauty in your situation, I encourage you to reach out to others. You\u2019ll be surprised what people are dealing with when you dig deeper than a simple \u201cHow are you\u201d. Perhaps you can look for the light in the darkness together, because I promise you, somehow, somewhere, it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, it\u2019s been a rough past couple of weeks, but I am hardly the only one. As I\u2019ve been open about my heartbreak, I\u2019m encountering others who\u2019ve been going through the same lately. Seems like everyone has lost family members and dear friends unexpectedly, lost jobs and spouses, or money\u2019s been tight. We were all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7,4,20,6,26],"tags":[500,284,42,76,75,149,499,43,44],"class_list":["post-2385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courage-and-strength","category-heroes-and-she-roes","category-inspiring-messages","category-something-to-think-about","category-thought-to-ponder","category-well-being","tag-beauty","tag-broken-heart","tag-grief","tag-heart-break","tag-heartache","tag-heartbreak","tag-john-walsh","tag-loss","tag-tragedy"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Beauty in Tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/11\/finding-beauty-in-tragedy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Beauty in Tragedy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So, it\u2019s been a rough past couple of weeks, but I am hardly the only one. As I\u2019ve been open about my heartbreak, I\u2019m encountering others who\u2019ve been going through the same lately. Seems like everyone has lost family members and dear friends unexpectedly, lost jobs and spouses, or money\u2019s been tight. We were all…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/11\/finding-beauty-in-tragedy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-22T05:03:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-22T14:15:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/11\/doortomorning-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer E. 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However, her greatest skill is crushing anyone in a game of \"Name That Tune.\" In her spare time, she is an amateur home chef, a rock star marathon runner and wannabe novelist.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/jjones"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2407,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}