The downfall of Tom Petter'smight have begun in 2004 when his son John died

28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day [f]is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from [g]their sight. 32 They said to one another, “[h]Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was [i]explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them,34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 They began to relate [j]their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:28-34

In the Minneapolis Star Tribune paper dated December 7th I read at the bottom of the article this very telling statement. 

A key event  was the 2004 death of his son. Peters contends that he was overwhelmed with grtef  and fell out of the loop during the fraud. " I made a huge error," Petters wrote, " John was killed. I was a wreck for several years and I tried to put on a public face that I was OK, but told everyone publicly  that John would have wanted me to go on and that it was fine. IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE LIE. My heart was broken.

As a dad who lost a child traumatically the first night home from the hospital I could feel the pain in every word of Petter's statement. Tom Petters did what most American's do when they suffer a sudden loss: they put on a tough exterior and pretend they are OK and tell themselves that everything is fine on the western front.

This is a false assumption and likely everyone's fatal error.  The emotions of grief need to find some way to be processed. If they aren't processed verbally then they will be processed internally. Our emotions can cause irreparable damage to our body through eating too much, drinking too much, engaging in dangerous activities, etc, etc.  Without properly processing our grief the brain itself will completely rewire itself causing many in the throes of grief to make critical errors of judgment. For most who make those critical errors they may not be noticed, but for a public figure like Tom Petters his critical errors might have contributed to the fraud that cost others millions.

While I am not excusing Mr. Petters for the fraud  I am speculating that he might have seen a completely different outcome had he not denied the pain and emotions when his son died.http://miamioh.edu/news/article/view/3236 According to this link Tom Petter's son was murdered when he was mistaken for a thief. 

What happened in 2004 illustrates why every organization ought to have an action plan on how to support their employees who find themselves in the difficulty of having to continue working after traumatic losses. Employees should be encouraged to get involved in grief support groups and individual counseling sessions to help them begin processing their loss. 

 Tom Petters said that he was a wreck for several years and I believe him. His son had been murdered and the pain from this type of loss is much deeper. It is one thing to bury a parent we have come to expect that they would one day die, but it is a whole other thing to have to bury a child, no matter what the age. 

It is our faith that helps us connect the dots of our pain and our eventually healing.  As we learn more and more about what the bible says about Jesus and the suffering he went through on the cross and as we read about the reality of his resurrection  we discover that there is hope after our loss. Jesus Christ is a living and breathing Savior two doesn't just sit in heaven, but through his holy spirit he help us to cope with our loss.