Grief Books and Business

 

Is there anything more personal than grief? In 1.033 seconds, Google gave me 192,000,000 references. Google is lazy. Had it given another second of effort, I bet they'd dig up a billion. 

When you think of your personal grief, do you see it as a journey? Is it a new life, or is it even life at all?

Grief is a zillion-dollar business. Some people take out loans or pay cash for higher education and earn advanced degrees to become experts. For a lot of money and time, a person can earn a prestigious title and a license to charge money to hear from people who paid the impossible price to pay cash to sit in the comfiest chair in the office and use free tissues. I think we have it backward. The counselor is still the student when an expert is in the room. 

Seventeen years ago this spring, I started this blog. It was intended to be a way for me to learn about blog writing, and my topic was going to be book reviews. You don't need to know my story to know I didn't stick to my plan. I wrote and wrote but reviewed only a few books. Oh, I read books by the pound. You can tell something about a person's life by looking at the books on their shelves. (I judge news commentators by the books behind them.)  A friend had an impressive library in a tidy home office. All of the books were best sellers. If you opened any one of the books, you'd be the first to turn their page. For my friend, the books were fancy wallpaper.

Two years ago, I decided to lighten my load of books to move the last halfway across the country. A heavy load of grief books went back on the shelf at Half-Price-Books, where I hope they have found new owners. As a grief book consumer, I wrote as I read. If you pick up one of my recycled books, you'll see my comments, notes, highlights. (Feel free to judge me by my scribbles.)  I added nothing to the author's insight or the book's value.

Because no two griefs are the same, no book or advice will ever cure the cause; and that's good news for the business of suffering.