When words are not enough...

It has been a very hard week on my friends. 3 of them lost their friend Mark Loesch, who was attacked and severely beaten while out on an evening bike ride, then left to die on a lawn 4 blocks from our house. My friends Elise, Victor, Lynne and no doubt many more that I'm forgetting right now lost their friend Jim Rigney. On the less dire but still painful end of the scale, other friends have announced their decisions to divorce or split up.
We just attended the memorial for Mark so we could be there for some of our friends. It was a well attended and mostly positive event (we got heckled by a neighborhood resident who seemed to take the memorial personally). It made me wish that I had known him, just as I wish that I had met Jim. They both seemed like good folks and I find myself grieving along with my friends for a loss doesn't impact me directly. I always wish that there was a right thing to say at times like this, something that would neatly package the pain and help it pass from them faster.
But if there is, I haven't found it yet. I'm thinking about all of you tonight. Just wanted you to know.