Those who do not understand, ask “Why?”

Those who do, struggle; but move on.

When faced suddenly with a tragic loss of life, an initial response is often the grief-stricken moan, “Why?” But as heartrending as the loss is, even more terrible is remaining stuck, forever searching for an answer. Never understanding how such a tragedy could happen. Never moving forward. As Buddhist practitioners, such loss still leaves us with a wrenching sorrow, but we have thankfully learned the answer to “Why?” Everyone, even the young and innocent, planted the seeds for what happens to them in this lifetime. Our minds are not yet clear enough for us to know the karmic cause of an unexpected death. But we can at least grasp that the cause existed because the result would not have happened otherwise. The loss is tragic, but not unfair. Such understanding does not magically erase our pain. It does, however, enable us to move on and figure out how to exist with our grim new reality.