I do my very best to take full advantage of all of the
moments granted to me. Yes, I do look forward to the future but it is not
promised. I really love providing comfort at funerals for loved ones, but it
seems that each funeral I have ever attended was a family reunion. Further, it
seems that there’s always that last thing folks wish they said or did before
the passing of a loved one. Where I work there are reports of people dying
absolutely alone! Alone! No family. No friends. Alone.
We all have daily struggles, but it is most certain that
some are much greater than others. One of the things that we take for granted
is our health. Check this out.
During my lunch break today, I went to another building to
find a place to shed some of the stress I had incurred earlier in the day.
While chatting with my best friend on the phone, a woman staggers out of the
elevator and I had to catch her before she hit the floor. Her poor husband
looked so feeble and helpless. I said the words coming immediately to mind “Are
you ok?” I quickly I retracted “No, you’re not ok.” Her hubby says “Honey. Do
you want me to get you a wheelchair?” “Yes, she says.”
Then this lady wearing a heavy wool hat over a clearly bald
head looked up at me as a tear rolled down her two-toned pale and pink cheek. I
instinctively pulled her into an embrace and she bawled her eyes out.
I held her. For as long as she needed, I held her, choking
back my own tears. Between sobs she kept saying “Thank you. Thank you.” I knew
that I was holding a soldier so I whispered into her ear “Soldiers have to have
a seat sometimes. I know you’re a fighter but this moment isn’t fight time.”
She said, “Fighting is all I know. Today I’m here after my 11th
diagnosis.”
Yes. 11th Cancer diagnosis.
I rubbed her back to soothe her and my heart hurt from
feeling protruding bone on her thin and frail frame. Rather than press her about her visit today,
I instead began to share with her my early morning rhetoric. We actually shared
a laugh. I kept my arm around her shoulder as we chatted like old friends.
Her hubby came with her wheelchair. I said “Your chariot has
arrived!” She giggled. Felt more to me like she was singing.
She just kept thanking me. I felt helpless that I could not
travel with her and just make it alright. Whatever it was. I held my tears
until she was far from me.
There is nothing about this story that is meant to honor me.
The reason for this message is to remind us all to be HUMAN, without
hesitation. This was a white woman and I wonder if she was surprised that I
reached for her. We walk along sometimes with our head so far in the sky or so
far up our asses that we forget that one day, it is very possible that we will
need a human hand that will not hesitate to help us. Even greater than reaching
for a stranger in need though is the fact that we have people near to us who
need our humanity. Love is the simplest thing that we can give of ourselves.
Even at the risk of not receiving it from someone, the act of giving it in
itself should truly fill our hearts.
Take this message or leave it. God gave it to me to give
out.
One Love!
