Sympathy card wording is always a topic that sure to catch people off-guard and the reason for this is that this is a topic that many people do not tend to give much thought about at least, not until they actually encounter an event whereby they are compelled to send a sympathy card.
Part of the problem with sympathy cards as a whole is that many people, for whatever reason, rely upon the same jaded, clichéd same platitudes. One argument for this is that it is very difficult to be entirely confident or indeed certain as to what to say to a grieving person who has just suffered bereavement. After all, although death and loss maybe a natural, expected and biological process that will occur to us all, this does little to ease the pain and suffering they are no doubt enduring!
Given the fact that the recipient of the sympathy card will undoubtedly be in a very fragile state of mind and emotionally labile, many people worry and fret that they may inadvertently offend or otherwise cause some degree of emotional damage to the grieving person that they rely on stock answers. Why? Because clichéd sympathy card wording messages maybe tedious and predictable but ultimately, they are “safe”.
What many of us fail to appreciate however, is that the sending of a sympathy card can be a fairly one-sided benefit in that it makes us, i.e. the person sending the sympathy card wording feel better as opposed to the recipient. To the recipient, there is a very real and tangible (not to mention entirely understandable) risk that all they see is a mountain of cards and scraps of paper which really say:
“I have sent this card in an attempt to do what is socially expected of me and therefore, having fulfilled the requirements of etiquette, I have absolved myself of any sort of further commitment, emotional involvement or need to be involved in your grieving process.”
When a person needs a sympathy card, what they also need is genuine sympathy, compassion, patience, tolerance and support. Even personalising your sympathy card wording just a little, can have a far more superior and profound effect on the recipient of the card as opposed to the boilerplate message that can be culled from any website.
In order to be creative with sympathy card wording, take a moment to actually consider the recipient of the sympathy card in question. Are they a religious person, who takes a great deal of comfort from the Bible and church meetings? Perhaps quoting a passage from scripture that relates to pain, grief and loss would be a good idea.
If the recipient is an avid fan of a particular poet or poem, then perhaps referencing the sympathy card wording to the poem in some way maybe enough to raise a smile on their face. After all, the fact that you know them well enough to remember such a small detail is extremely flattering indeed and will surely be met with a warm welcome.