What not to say in a tragedy
From an AP post:
Wow. Can you believe that?!? Five students and presumably the pilot were killed, and the first thing that comes to mind to the spokeswoman is to plug her school?
She thinks that the tragedy is that this almighty great important school lost what could be "some of the best music students in the world." Unbelievable.
Five students lost their lives! That's the tragedy! The school is insignificant at this point! The spokeswoman's comments were completely insensitive.
If I were the spokesperson, I would have said something along the lines of "This is an absolute tragedy. Indiana University will do everything we can to help the families involved."
This plane accident really hits close to home. When I was at Manhattan Christian College, we lost three of our students to a car accident coming back from a camp. I used to jam with one of them. After she passed away, the group completely fizzled out. Although she was extremely talented, it wasn't the talent that we missed. It was simply her presence that helped shape the group.
I will be praying for the families involved. The article doesn't tell us about the fate of the pilot, but I can only assume the worst. The next couple of years will be the most difficult time for all involved.
A small plane crashed while trying to land in the fog, killing five students from Indiana University's school of music, a university spokeswoman said Friday.
"This would be a tragedy for the school," spokeswoman Susan Williams said. "It's an important school. Some of the best music students in the world come here."
Wow. Can you believe that?!? Five students and presumably the pilot were killed, and the first thing that comes to mind to the spokeswoman is to plug her school?
She thinks that the tragedy is that this almighty great important school lost what could be "some of the best music students in the world." Unbelievable.
Five students lost their lives! That's the tragedy! The school is insignificant at this point! The spokeswoman's comments were completely insensitive.
If I were the spokesperson, I would have said something along the lines of "This is an absolute tragedy. Indiana University will do everything we can to help the families involved."
This plane accident really hits close to home. When I was at Manhattan Christian College, we lost three of our students to a car accident coming back from a camp. I used to jam with one of them. After she passed away, the group completely fizzled out. Although she was extremely talented, it wasn't the talent that we missed. It was simply her presence that helped shape the group.
I will be praying for the families involved. The article doesn't tell us about the fate of the pilot, but I can only assume the worst. The next couple of years will be the most difficult time for all involved.
posted by gapid at 6:03 AM
2 Comments:
That's terrible how insensitive that spokesperson was.
I remember the terrible loss we all suffered lossing Yvonne, Scott and Matt. I still think about them and remember them.
I stumbled upon your blog while doing a search for news articles about a dear friend of mine, Scott. It's been over 10 years now, and I still think about them often. I was on a camp team from St.Louis Christian College and the 4 from Manhattan where at a camp with us for 2 weeks in Missouri. We all clicked instantly. I still feel such a loss when I think of them. Somehow it makes me feel better to talk about them with people that knew them as well, and just how special they were.....
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