Widowed and/or bereaved? And does it even really matter when the words don’t change the outcome?
Widowed – verb: past participle: widowed
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become a widow or widower; lose one’s spouse through death.
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- Widow – noun: widow; plural noun: widows
a woman who has lost her spouse by death and has not remarried.
- Widow – noun: widow; plural noun: widows
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- Widower – noun: widower; plural noun: widowers
a man who has lost his spouse by death and has not remarried.
- Widower – noun: widower; plural noun: widowers
Bereaved – verb: past participle: bereaved
- be deprived of a loved one through a profound absence, especially due to the loved one’s death.
“She died. She is dead. Is the word so difficult to learn?” ~C.S. Lewis {A Grief Observed}
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We use the terms ‘lost’, ‘deprived’ and ‘absence’ when the truth is they died. Their physical mortal body ceased to work and they died. You are widowed until you remarry, then no longer a widow or widower? And are you still bereaved every single moment, day, month, and year after losing a loved one?
The pain and the grief, never goes away even when you commit actions that take you in another direction, such as remarrying. Grief is not something you get over, it is something you carry with you for the rest of your life. It irrevocably changes you, how could it not?
Does the soul live on after death? I believe it does and that’s a topic for another blog post.
“Well, we have nothing if not belief.” ~Reepicheep {The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis}
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