I've just watched a news flash where a family was "given closure" after having watched the execution of the man who murdered one of their "loved ones". Closure? It's the biblical eye for an eye!
You hear it all the time now, this "wanting closure" or "giving closure" or "finding closure". This obsession with the word "closure" is the stupidest idea I've ever heard of. When someone who is central to your life leaves you or dies, a part of you leaves you or dies as well.
It’s not simple; you never get over it. Maybe you learn to live with it, but it's like the pain an amputee feels in a limb that no longer exists.
I lost two people - one in 1982, the other in 1995 - who over many years were central to my life. The connection I had with those two people was so vital to my life that their loss ripped something out of me. There will be no "closure" as I've suffered from phantom limb syndrome ever since.
As if using an old and respectable word for something so complex and personal would change all this. Luckily, it hasn't found its way into the dictionary. Not yet, but it will, like those Nanny State trigger warnings before and after every bit of bad news:
You may find this story upsetting. If you - or your "loved ones" - need immediate support, please consider contacting the helplines below:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
13Yarn Crisis Support for Indigenous Australians (of course!) on 139276
(soon there'll be trigger warnings before trigger warnings as well as separate helplines for LGBTIQA+ people; for people who can't spell; for people who find it offensive that there are people who can't spell; ...)
Ooops! A helpline for LGBTIQA+ people already exists! Click here.
