Sharing details can help others
I’m writing in response to Peggy M. Gross’ letter, “Keep the macabre details out.” While I agree with her position on stories that sensationalize the blow-by-blow account of the death of a young boy, or the May 20 headline shouting “Jurors hear about 6-year-old’s last moments,” I would like to present a different point of view in regard to Becca Martin-Brown’s column recounting her husband’s final days.
We all have traumatic moments in our lives. For some, the best way to deal with these is to stuff them in a shoe box and bury them in the dark recesses of the mind, never to be spoken of again. For others, sharing the story is a therapeutic experience on the path that leads to healing. I might also add, that by sharing such stories, readers facing similar situations may gain the courage and self-confidence necessary for their own dark walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I don’t know Ms. Martin-Brown personally, and am in no position to judge her intentions. To me, it appeared a very emotional and gut-wrenching column to write. Watching a loved one die is never easy and seldom pretty. I felt she honored her husband’s memory with dignity and grace, even the ugly parts that no one wanted to see.
As far as selling more newspapers, her column was buried so far from the front page most readers would have needed a backhoe to find it. I doubt the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette experienced a spike in sales that Thursday, but if her column helped one person who was struggling to deal with a difficult trauma in their life, it was worth more than all the daily newspaper sales in the entire world.
RUSSELL GAYER
Goshen