Coping with Tragedy

This week, my mom’s husband nearly died. He didn’t thanks to modern medicine and the hard work of some talented individuals. But that’s not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is how we nonbelievers cope with such tragedy. I have no research to back me up, just my anecdotal experience, but I am pretty sure we cope better with tragedy then the average person of faith. And I think that’s because we accept reality sooner then our religious counterparts do. I mean, what other choice do we have? It’s not like we believe a miracle might occur to make our new reality go away. Relying on magical thinking might provide temporary comfort, but that is only a delay tactic. It is only when you start coping that you can start living again.