Now for the second, more positive, post.

I went to the wedding tonight of a friend of mine. It was a beautiful wedding, as all weddings are. It was energetic and leibeidige and full of simha with a beautiful chassan and kalla.

Bu this wedding was different. This was a person who has suffered through untold tragedy. I am going to leave his name out, as some of you might recognize it and I do not want to use his name. if you figure it out, that's your business. He went through a horrific experience of losing almost his whole family a few years ago to terrorism. His parents and some siblings were killed. He went through emotional and psychological traumas.
There were still some sad things I found out at the wedding. It turns out the remaining children do not get along with the surviving grandparents. At the time of the tragedy, there was a dispute as to the future of the family and it became a full blown fight. I am not privy to the details and only know the little I heard tonight, so I will not go into it. Many people over the past few years have tried to make shalom between the kids and the grandparents to no avail. It was so bad that the grandparents were nto even at the wedding. Very sad, that after suffering so much, the grandparents have to fight and be so stubborn that the family has to be broken up even more.

Sorry for digressing. It was beautiful to see this young man get married with his friends and family around him supporting him. The simha was powerful, because people were not just dancing at a wedding, they were participating in an event that showed the victim has overcome and has continued his life and has moved forward. He did not succumb to his "wounds". Many people who suffer tragedies much less than what this young man suffered would spend the rest of their lives in a depression and on medications unable to function. this young man has taken control of his life and has succeeded in moving forward.

Kol Hakavod and mazel tov.