Words are not enough

What do you say when a friend is hurting? How can you show them you care without it being painfully obvious that there is no way you could possibly understand?

Today, a friend will wake to a world that is completely different to the world he lived in two days ago. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to speak to him...everything I can think of to say sounds so shallow, so inappropriate, so completely insufficient.

Part of me wants to rationalise:
He needs time to be with family.
He doesn't want to deal with calls from friends who don't know what to say, leaving him in the position of having to reassure them that their fumbled words are welcome.
I don't want to bother him.

Deep inside I know that it's rubbish. I'm afraid of this feeling of helplessness. I am afraid I would say the wrong thing and make it worse.

So instead of reaching out and letting him know I'm thinking of him, I sit alone in my office and cry.

I cry because I am helpless.
I cry because I remember those I have lost.
I cry because I am shocked...I knew his father was sick but I believed he would recover.

Mostly though, I cry for Jude. Sometimes, it's all you can do.

Maybe one day I can offer him comfort. But not today.