In Tim O'Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story," he writes: A true war story is never moral...If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged...then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.
I feel the truth of those words in my bones. I remember back in 1995, when survivors and their children began writing about the Holocaust. I remember one particular essay by a son, who put an uplifting closing on his story. In speaking about his work, he said, he had needed to say the good ways he was affected. And I remember when I published my own essay, a child of survivors said to me, "I'm glad you closed with a positive ending." I remember my discomfort at that remark; I remember learning how many ways there were to spin a story.
I'm thinking about this because the Stamford fire horror continuously replays on the TV. This morning, it was reported, the male survivor told reporters, "We'll be OK."
Did he want newscasters to pack up and go home? (Understandable, for certain.) Or, was he giving the world of network-news the ending they seem to thrive on--every tragedy is surmountable.
I want to know that the woman who lost her parents and children will be OK. I want to know she'll find comfort and a lot of grace. Human beings are wired to survive unfathomable tragedy. In their own time. In their own way.
Followers
