Reflective Essay
My perspective when I began this project was a firm belief that grief isn’t something that has to control your life. The negative effects can be avoided. The research I have done has only fortified this belief. I learned that with the right support group, a person can overcome this loss and even though they still are hurting, these victims know that they will make it through the tragedy they have suffered.
I chose each genre in an attempt to relate my message to the audience. My second genre is a poster that goes into detail about the facts about grief. It shows the harsh realities that face thousands of children. It laid the foundation for the rest of my MGRP by being brutal about life and death. It establishes the fact that this MGRP is about the death of someone close to you. The other genres go more in depth by dealing with grief itself. They go into different methods of coping and explain how to help effectively.
My repetends were slightly different. I used photos of kate's club, and added advice to each one. One of the photos show kids having fun and laughing, but the bit of advice included makes you remember that they are all in different stages. It also proves the idea that the sadness and pain can be overcome if the right people are in your life.
Throughout this project, my outlook on the healing process did change. I didn’t imagine that so many people had been affected by a tragedy of this kind until I completed my second genre. In it I show the enormity of this ignored issue. From the thousands of children in Atlanta to the millions in the world, these kids don’t have a support group to lean on. There isn’t an organization that connects them to others who can relate, and that is a devastating thought. The idea of so many suffering is horrendous.
This is the future of the world and twenty percent are losing a part of their life, to depression, anger, jealousy, and fear; a fear that the people they have left will disappear like the one they lost, a fear that they will never be the same as the other kids. Bereavement is an isolating experience, but ironically, it is something that everyone has in common. We will all lose someone. Grief isn’t a bad thing. It is the only way we are able to express or pain, and love. It all comes back to who we have, and who we loved.