The Compassionate Friends Creed
We need not walk alone
We are the Compassionate Friends
We reach out to each other with love, with understanding and with hope
Our children have died at all ages and from many different causes, but our love for our children unites us
Your pain becomes my pain, just as your hope becomes my hope
We come together from all walks of life, from many different circumstances
We are a unique family because we represent many races and creeds
We are young and we are old
Some of us are far along in our grief, but others still feel a grief so fresh and so intensely painful that we feel hopeless and see no hope
Some of us have found our faith to be a source of strength; some of us are struggling to find answers
Some of us are angry, filled with guilt or in deep depression; others radiate an inner peace
But whatever pain we bring to this gathering of The Compassionate Friends, it is pain we will share, just as we share with each other our love for our children
We are all seeking and struggling to build a future for ourselves, but we are committed to building that future together as we reach out to each other in love and share the pain as well as the joy, share the anger as well as the peace, share the faith as well as the doubts and help each other to grieve as well as to grow.
Kind of like 'our thread' I reckon. xxxx