97. Flag Day

Sam showed me a picture of a small church cemetery.  A white and/or a blue flag adorned about a third of the headstones.  Sam explained the white flags were people who had surrendered to addiction through death.  The blue were people killed by another person’s addiction.   

Sam said, “Gloria’s boyfriend is buried there.  She convinced the pastor to ask the congregation to mark the graves with the flags. Gloria thought maybe one family might go along.  The flags sat in boxes at the back of the church for weeks.  Then one by one, people began putting them on the graves. Each flag chipped away at Gloria’s hatred for the drunk driver who killed her boyfriend. It was like exposing the depth of the problem exposed her wound to the sunlight.  She started to heal.” He paused. “The more difficult the situation, the more creative she gets. I love that about her.”

Today I will look for creative ways to handle difficult situations and emotions.

Writing My New Story © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: Writing My New Story is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)