If tragedy brings out the best in some people, few live that better than the family of Christine Archibald, the Castlegar woman killed in the terrorist attacks in London on Saturday.
At a time when their hearts are breaking, the family of the 30-year-old issued a statement that not only paints a loving picture of their daughter and sister, but calls the rest of us to compassion and to service.
Archibald, who worked with homeless people in Calgary, had moved to the Netherlands to be with her fianc茅, Tyler Ferguson. The two were on a short trip to London, and were walking along London Bridge when a van driven by terrorists plowed into pedestrians.
Although Ferguson and first-responders tried to save her life, the young woman died in Ferguson鈥檚 arms. She was one of seven people who were killed by the van or in the knife attacks that followed; more than 20 others are still in critical condition.
The senselessness of the deaths and the wounds must be almost unbearable for the families of the victims. In the midst of such grief, anger is natural.
Yet Archibald鈥檚 family summoned other emotions as they wrote their short statement:
鈥淲e grieve the loss of our beautiful, loving daughter and sister. She had room in her heart for everyone and believed strongly that every person was to be valued and respected. She lived this belief working in a shelter for the homeless until she moved to Europe to be with her fianc茅.
鈥淪he would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death. Please honour her by making your community a better place. Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter. Tell them Chrissy sent you.鈥�
In those few words, we feel the measure of their loss and their determination to carry on the work she did.
As her family reflects on her life, they 鈥� and we 鈥� know Archibald did more good for the world with her compassion than her killers could ever do with their cruelty.
Theirs is far from the only family overwhelmed by loss because of similar acts of cruelty. Too many others in London, Manchester, Kabul, Baghdad and other cities around the world are burying their loved ones in just the latest series of terrorist attacks.
Too often in the West, we imagine that people in more violent parts of the world are inured to sudden death, that somehow their grief is less than ours. We need only glance at a few photos from the aftermath of other attacks to see how universal is the pain.
We also see how people around the world find the strength to go on, to rebuild around the holes that will always be a part of their lives from now on.
The Archibald family, however, asks us to do more than just go on with normal life. In their daughter鈥檚 name, they ask us to reach out to those in need. Rather than putting things back the way they were, the Archibalds ask us to make the world better.
Tell them Chrissy sent you.
