Your heart breaks for British soccer player, Laura Bassett, she, who kicked the ball into her own team’s net --- an “own goal,” a mistake seemingly too hard to shoulder.
Watch the reply of the game and you too break a little over Bassett’s bad break. It lost the game. For England. In the semi-final. Of the World Cup.
She is weeping….so much more than tears….she heaves as she sobs. One of her teammates holds her, cradling her teammate’s head that is buried in her chest as she walks her from the pitch.
Her coach comes to her and wraps his arms around her.
The announcer keeps repeating, “What can you say to her?”
Nothing.
She’ll hear it. She’ll read it. She’ll watch it ---- all kinds of messages of well-wishes and pick-me-ups. Yet, what she needs is space and support and knowing persons are there.
For most of us we have been on both sides of this moment ---- needing comforted and wanting to offer comfort. Why do we always feel we need to say something? We’re nervous and not knowing what to say so we too often resort to worn-out cliché’s.
Stop.
One does not need to say anything. What matters is that you are there....in the midst of it... with and through. That is enough.
sj;