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ABOUT THE BOOK
The Only Reason to Live is a true and detailed
account of grief and despair experienced by the author and his wife, Linda,
during the first year following the accidental drowning of their 17-year-old
son, Matthew. It is a heart-breaking story of what a father and mother endure
after the death of a child and what each parent must face on holidays and
special occasions thereafter.
The book begins with the
late night call that brought the message that Matthew had gone under the water
and was missing. It describes the search for the body, the funeral, the dark
days afterward, and the many sources of guilt and anger. It addresses the
experience of living with grief and why such grief never ends.
As parents we don’t realize how close we are to losing a
child and how devastating it would be to do so. The author is very open about
his feelings and experiences, and the book is clearly one of the most thorough
and revealing accounts of the many ways that bereaved parents suffer after their
child dies. He reveals inner most feelings, private thoughts and personal doubts
that many bereaved parents experience in their ordeal but are afraid to admit.
The author examines the
many issues that grieving parents face, such as assessing how the child died,
what God’s involvement might be, going on without the child, the nature of
afterlife, and how religious beliefs may fail us. In searching for understanding
about death and afterlife, he demonstrates how the death of our child may force
us to critically examine our beliefs and assumptions about the world…and what
the final outcome may be.
The book is especially
valuable to parents who have buried a child and who have lost hope and direction
in their shattered lives. There are healing messages and a guide for recovery
implicit in the book. It describes what helped the author the most and what
actually made him worse.
Finally, the
title of the book is based on the theme of the impasse – a place in despair
where nothing helps us – and how to go on when there is no reason to live.
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