Today is Christmas Day, In my immediate environment I have no reason to bring tears to the surface. But I am feeling sad. I have been reading a number of posts here and all the responses to them. They are the posts of Vitty, depressed, Schism and abandonned. There may be more, if so they are also included. All of these posts speak of tears, loneliness or sadness. I wish to reply and say something meaningful.
I remember writing a post at the closing days of the old H2O forum. I am reposting it here verbatim, and then in a reply I will also enter the two replies I received to that post:
Here it is, if all goes right:
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The content below is a topic from H2Q forums. Print document. Topic Title:
TEARS IN A BOTTLE
Date Posted: 06/13/2001 12:07:13 PM Posted By: belbab
Life sometimes presents us with things in twos or threes. The first one, just may tweek our
attention a little and then the second one comes and we pay attention, and then if a third one
comes then it is clinched in our present consciousness.
Recently, on the net, on one of those sites where attributes of God are presented with photos
of beautiful natural scenery, came the words, God remembers all our tears.. I didn't save the
site, but these words clicked into my mind. Then here on H2O, Joe Black, expressed
sadness over the death of a loved pet and covered over his sorrow and deleted his post.
The third thought that brings this post to the surface is what I read in a book by Victor
Frankel, called Man's Search for Meaning. Victor Frankel was a psychiatrist who survived
the holocaust of the Nazi concentration camps and after the war continued his work. In his
account he tells the story of a old Jewish Rabbi, who also managed somehow to survive, but
his wife and six children did not. The rabbi was sad, not only because he had lost his loved
ones, for him they were in God's hands, but he was sad because he felt sinful,unworthy and
was left here on earth in tears and suffering,andGod had rejected him. The doctor in his
comments, quoted the text from Psalms 56:8: Thou has kept count of my tossings; put thou
my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book? For the first time in years the rabbi found
relief from his sufferings.
Tears in a bottle, Tears in a bottle. They are stored, they are precious, they have great value.
Where is this bottle? Way out in space in some celestial archive? Where are my tears?
Where are your tears? Where are the tears of those ripped away from this life? Sometime
when we have sorrow, we state that the sorrow is bottled up inside. It is buried in the depths
of our soul. Sometimes, the bottle become opened and we may break into tears at some
insignifcant moment perhaps years down the road, and at times we do not remember for what
the tears are for. An example of mine is this: I was expulsed from the WT in the early
seventies, for years, fifteen or more, my wife and I had no contact with friends or my wife's
relatives. Our kids grew up without hardly knowing their grandparents. Finally we did meet
some dissident JWs. While talking long distance to someone on the phone, I suddenly
unexpectedly broke into tears, and surprised myself. Tears in a bottle, buried deep, they will
surface.
What of the tears of those who have been torn away from life itself, what of the tears of the
silent lambs. Tears are also bottled up in the memories of survivors, who hold the sorrow of
others enclosed in the bottles recessed in their memories. In time these too, can rise to the
surface, and at times it is to the detriment of those who caused the tears in the first place.
Tears also give birth to joy. Tears also are expressed in the most beautiful creations, songs,
music, literature etc. For me, one of the most beautiful songs''ever written is the song: AmazingGrace written by a repentant slave trader.
When it says in the Book There will be no more tears I believe that this means not only that
their will be no more tears in the future, but all the tears ever shed in the history of mankind
will be transformed into joy, because God holds all the tears in his bottle.
(I will post the two replies that I received to this post, next. I am having trouble formatting and if I lose this post, I won't be able to post it again because of two post limit for new posts)
belbab