The Butterfly Principle E-Book

André Hötzer

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Deutsch

Seitenzahl: 50

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Marie can’t stop crying. Just a while ago, both her parents lost their lives in a car crash. Marie feels completely abandoned, left with her anxieties, her worries, her questions and her grief. The only adult who might be able to help her, Uncle Nico, is himself inconsolable and hasn’t got anything to offer. But then, one evening, something strange happens. Marie gets help from an unexpected quarter, and begins to see a glimmer of hope. André Hötzer, born 1964 and the father of three children, took an interest in the subject of death even as a child. Why are we afraid of it, what does it do to the bereaved, and is there life after death? What kind of strategies can help surviving relatives to get over their sorrow? With feeling and sensitivity, he tells how even after a severe loss like the death of a loved one it may be possible to draw on positive strength. The book can be a valuable aid, making it easier to talk to children about their grief. It is a touching book – and not just for children.

Leseprobe

Acknowledgements and thanks

It has taken me a whole lot longer to write this book than I had originally envisaged. I would like to thank all those who have helped me with this book. The book would not exist at all but for the support of many dear people who have helped me to bring it to completion.

First of all I must mention BoD – Books on Demand, with their sophisticated system that makes it possible for any author, even on a limited budget, to hold his book in his hands in printed form. Or one like me who calls on the full battery of professional support with all that this involves. Thanks to Dr. Bremer for her exceptionally generous support. I would also like to thank my proofreader, who brought a lot of sympathetic imagination to the task of correcting my very numerous errors, making it possible for the reader to have a fluent reading experience. My thanks too to the illustrator Daniela Henninger, who has succeeded in transforming my ideas into wonderful heart-warming pictures. Thanks to the entire team at BoD – you gave my book just the right final polish it needed.

And of course too my thanks go to my loved ones, my mother and my late father who made me the person that I am today. Especially to my mother Ursula, who has always believed in me. I am thankful too that I have the best children, Lisa, Nico and Jenni, that a father could ever wish for. And thanks to my longstanding partner and companion Monika whose understanding I can always count on. I love you all.

The following persons played a not inconsiderable part in the completion of this book: Sandra Mangano, Line Mangano, Hans Wiegand, Susanne Trösser and my sister Ursula Aldrian. They all read through my unfinished manuscript drafts repeatedly, with infinite patience, and corrected my mistakes – with the result that the book has gone on getting better and better. You gave me the benefit of your suggestions, and inspired me with courage in what has been one of my most exciting projects.

Many thanks for your friendship – it is only your help, and your special strengths, that have made this book possible.

Preface

What gives someone the idea of writing a book about bereavement?

The answer is quite simple: the older we get, the more frequently people are lost to us – through sickness, accidents or other blows of fate.

When this happens, what is the appropriate way of behaving towards the bereaved? How can we help them, advise them, inspire them with courage? What comforting words can we find for them and how do we find courage ourselves? And the most important thing – what do we say to children, when they lose a loved one to death? How can we give them security and support?

This book aims to help provide answers to these questions, and point out ways that are suitable for soothing pain and making it easier to deal with what has happened.

Perhaps, after reading this story, more than one person may come to see certain things in a different light.

I hope this book may succeed in helping people to draw on positive strength after such a severe loss as the death of a loved one.

André Hötzer

Table of Contents

Preface

The worst vacation ever

Marie talks to the light

“Do you know what death is like?”

The caterpillar and the butterfly

“Can you help Marie?”

The Butterfly Principle

The worst vacation ever

It’s Sunday evening, the summer vacation is at an end. Next day school starts again for Marie. Like all children, the nine-year-old girl loves the vacation – but this has been the worst vacation she has ever known. The sun has already gone down. It seems as if for Marie it is never going to rise again.

Marie sits on her bed and cries. For days her tears have been flowing without stopping. Her misery is so great that she can’t imagine ever being happy again after what has happened.

How can a child be expected to cope when even the grown-ups don’t know how to deal with something of this kind? Marie is beginning to realize that no one can really help her to soothe the pain. Of course she has heard many comforting words in the last few days – but words of comfort cannot reverse what has happened. And the people who tried to comfort her are of course themselves deeply shaken, and it was often hard for them not to lose control. “Why?” asks Marie. “Why did it have to happen?” This pain just will not go away. What would have happened, she thinks, if I had been in the car with my parents? Might I perhaps have noticed the lunatic who was going far too fast and crashed into the car from behind, knocking it off the carriageway, in time for the accident to have been prevented?

Marie tries to sleep. Her eyes are burning, but her tears have dried up. And yet the pain is still there, deep down inside her. “How many times did I contradict Mom and Dad or not listen to them? Whereas now… I would do anything they asked me to. I would always be a good girl till the end of my life, if I could only wind back the clock. And perhaps then it would all turn out differently. Perhaps…”