Wailing Within

A six-year-old, separated from the adult who once held him in tow but who veered down a different aisle in the wide and wild world of Walmart, wails uncontrollably. Fear has gripped the child and is holding him hostage in housewares. Sobbing so the little person cannot even sputter his name when approached by a concerned shopper. How horrifying to feel forgotten, lost, left behind, abandoned. Paralyzed and bereft of resources, the child cries out for the one to whom he had previously been attached, wailing at the top of his lungs within the walls of Walmart.

A sixteen-year-old, driving out of town alone for the first time, hits a pothole which shreds the tread of the front right tire. Not having experienced any sort of driving inconvenience before, she panics as she careens off the road, reaching for her cellphone which bounced to the floorboard during the incident. The passenger side of the car makes contact with the guardrail unleashing the mournful melody of metal on metal and now the driver’s panic escalates to full-blown fear. It’s nine o’clock at night and she’s not even sure where she is. Questions ping like popcorn in her head: What should she do? How will she get out of this mess? Who will come to her aid? Tears trace the contours of her cheeks, but she stifles the sobs that throb from somewhere deep inside her, wailing nevertheless within the walls of her pounding heart.

A sixty-seven-year-old collapses on the couch once home from the hospital where his beloved spouse and best friend of forty-three years has “expired” (as the medical profession deems the dreadful experience). No, she died, he says aloud to the empty house they shared for more than two decades. Their dream home readied for their retirement together! He glances toward the screened-in porch where they shared steaming mugs of morning coffee and toasted the setting sun with tumblers of scotch. A groan crawls up and out of his burning gullet, and he moans in his misery, speaking again into the deafening silence: She died and left me all alone. Now what am I to do? Emptiness echoes around him and edges its way within him bringing with it dread over the thought of the approaching night and the day that would arrive on its heels devoid of joy without her. The wailing begins but only within the halls of his grief-stricken heart.

Alone. Abandoned. Lost. Forgotten. Left behind. Uncomfortable experiences for us humans at the very least, terrifying and paralyzing at most. And wail we will, even if only within. And ponder we will: what do we do and who will come to our aid?