SYNOPSIS
This book features interviews with mothers who have lost an adolescent child in a motor vehicle crash, and have been willing, ten years or more after the event, to share their experiences.
The outcome is an enduring sense of yearning, of sadness, and of trying to find answers - practical and spiritual - for the loss of their young ones in such a violent manner.
The terrible emotional aftermath of prolonged grief impacts on these mothers and their families, and is rarely, if ever, adequately addressed in our current social environment
Introduction
Many parents who have lost a child are seemingly preoccupied with the loss, no matter how long after the child's death. Well-meaning friends and relatives will say, "You should concentrate on your other children," [or your career or getting a hobby or doing volunteer work in the community]. While these are all worthwhile pursuits, such well-meant comments demonstrate a lack of appreciation of the deep and lifelong impact on family members, and the psychological struggle experienced by those who are wrestling with unresolved grief.
Our society is not well-equipped to understand or cope with crippling long-term emotional discomfort, the accepted social norm being one or two years for grieving a lost loved one. Drawing on these interviews and my own experience, however, it is obvious that families' futures are severely diminished by this modern-day phenomenon of increasing numbers of young people succumbing to road deaths and trauma.
In their wake such deaths create unfathomable pain and suffering, and untold financial costs to the community, well beyond the comprehension of most people. This book takes you inside the actions, thoughts and processes of people who have first-hand experience.
A Frightening Statistic
According to an article published by the (Royal Auto Club) RAC of Western Australia in the August 2012 edition of their magazine Horizons.
'In 2011 the proportion of road fatalities for people aged 17 to 24 years was almost double their proportion of the population.'
The cost of the book is $25.00 plus $5.00 postage and handling within Australia, for overseas friends please allow an addition $10.00 postage and handling. All prices quoted are in $AU.
