Are you aware that someone has it worse than you?

I was once a very self engulfed little girl. I had just lost my dad in a terrible terrorist attack and my mom wasn’t helping much. I felt like no one was looking out for me, no one cared about my pain, until one day someone said these words to me: “Are you aware that someone has it worse than you?”

“What a nerve!” I thought. Then I sat back and my little 14 year old mind tried to figure out how she could say something like this. But I couldn’t hear myself think above the sound of crying coming from my mother’s room.

All this time I had just thought about myself and not given a thought to how my mom was handling this. That day I got on my knees and prayed- but somehow I felt that would not be enough. If anything we are taught that prayer requires action as well, and from that day I did everything in my power to make sure my mom would not cry. . .

I did all I could but only realised recently that the death of a loved one is something that will be in your life for the rest of your life. I guess the best is to just help out those suffering with you so that no one has it worse than you.