Personal Response to “Lament for a Child”“I didn't know how much I loved him until he was gone” (p. 13).“It's so wrong, it's so profoundly wrong for a parent to die before his parents. It's hard enough burying our parents. But this is what we expect. Our parents belong to our past, our children belong to our future. We cannot imagine our future without them. How can I bury my son, my future, one of the next? He had to bury me!" (page 16). “Is there no one who can slow him down, make him stop, make him turn back? We will all have to be swept away forever, far away, beyond, with the loss of beauty and love and pain, until the measure of our losses is filled?” (page 23).“There is a hole in the world now. In the place where he was there is now nothing left. A center like57).“The worst days now are the holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, birthdays, weddings, January 31st---the days intended as celebrations of happiness and joy are now days of tears” (p. 61). “Each person's suffering has its own quality” (p. 72).” We are one in suffering. Some are rich, some are athletic, some are admired" (p. 89). death also means living with the strength and challenge of rising now from all our dark graves of suffering love” (p. 92). I didn't know how much I loved him until he was gone" (p. 13), had a strong resonance with me and the loss of my brother. Having only one brother and losing him was so hard. I never realized how much he meant to me until he was no longer here. Being my only brother, we were close. Even though he was nine years older than me, we were still where we all were. We went through a lot together and he was always there for me when I needed him. I have faith that I will see him again one day, and I know that he will watch over me and my children until that day. In the place where he was, now there is nothing at all. A center like no other, of memory, hope, knowledge and affection that once inhabited this land, is no longer there” (p. 33). This quote resonates with all the losses in my life. Every time I lose someone it leaves a void in my world. Since my brother died, a huge void has been created in my life. When my grandfather died he got bigger and then again when my grandmother died. Then once again, when I lost my favorite aunt, that hole grew. The pain we feel is different for each of us, but we all miss something when we lose a loved one. As time goes by the hole heals a little, but my life will never be the same without these people. Wolterstorff's faith resonates with me as all we have are the memories we created while they were our loved ones