{"id":37703,"date":"2026-01-28T20:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T01:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/?p=37703"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T01:41:33","slug":"navigating-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/2026\/01\/28\/navigating-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2001, when 9\/11 happened, I was listening to sports radio on my way to work. When the first tower was hit, the host interrupted the show to announce what had happened. He and his co-host were audibly shaken. They struggled for a few minutes, trying to report the news that was coming to them, and then stopped. I\u2019m paraphrasing this next bit, of course, but the gist is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happening in New York is unimaginable. All of us are affected by it, and we\u2019ll all remember this moment. But we are not a news show. We\u2019re not trained for it, and that\u2019s not what you\u2019re listening to us for. So, we\u2019re going to do our best to continue to talk sports. If you\u2019d like to follow the news, turn to our sister station at\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finished my drive into my work, where I was part of the leadership of a small software company. We dug up an old television, set it up in the breakroom, and spent the rest of the morning glued to it as we tried to contact our families and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2003, when the Columbia space shuttle burned up, I was digging a drainage ditch for Habitat for Humanity. I remember looking up and seeing something in the sky, though I\u2019ve read that it wasn\u2019t supposed to be visible from Orlando. Regardless, word of the tragedy spread through the crew. A bunch of folk went inside to watch the news. I continued with my work. I\u2019m not sure why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve thought about that sports talk show a lot. At first, I was outraged that they would continue to talk sports, but not anymore. There\u2019s value in turning away from horrible news, in giving yourself space to adjust. Just like it was okay for me to keep digging that ditch, it was okay for people to keep listening to sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no rules when it comes to reacting to tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s that old line about some people running toward the fire while others run away, but that doesn\u2019t usually apply. Most of the time, there\u2019s no running to do. The events of 9\/11 and the Columbia space shuttle and the countless other disasters since weren\u2019t things that I could do anything about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past year, we\u2019ve endured an endless stream of news detailing the cruelties of our government. Firings, abductions, murders\u2026 pretty much every evil ever conceived by mankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have struggled, like I have, with what to do. We can (and should) protest and call and contribute and vote. We can support each other. That is all necessary, but none of it feels like enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to turn my writing towards attacking the evils of our politicians. I ended that almost immediately. Like the sports talk show hosts, it\u2019s simply not something I\u2019m suited for. Instead, I committed to writing these weekly articles about writing and life, to support other writers as best I could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it enough? It doesn\u2019t feel like it, certainly not in the face of what happened to Alex Pretti or Renee Nicole Good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have an answer, but I do know that it\u2019s important for us to give each other (and ourselves) grace. It\u2019s okay to escape, to watch that silly show or read that awesome book. It\u2019s also okay to throw yourself into your work or to take long lonely bike rides. Channel your feelings into your writing. Scream into your pillow. If you have to turn away from the news for a while, that\u2019s okay, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be there for your friends. Be there for yourself. Do what you can do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With so many tragedies happening so rapidly, what can we do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-37703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-life-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sunset_grace.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DpYi-9O7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37705,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37703\/revisions\/37705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}