Deedee is in her seventies and gravity is having its way with her as the weight of a life’s work bends her towards the ground. She is unable to stand tall and finds it near impossible to shoulder check and lift a bag of dog food. Deedee is so tough that she has a hard time receiving help and unfortunately, the support system she trusts is shrinking. The good news is that she has a weakness: she loves cookies.
On Saturday night, my wife, Kristy brought Deedee another instalment of warm ginger snaps. Weakened by the generosity, Deedee started to share that her grandson had moved away and how difficult she finds chores without his help, particularly with her increasingly creaky back. The truth is this is the beginning of a very difficult reality for Deedee, where her chance at independent living shrinks as her chore list grows and routine tasks become ever hard to complete. It is not hard to imagine that in the confines of her lonely home, her chance at sustainable living will diminish. She needs community.
I think that the general human response in a story like this is to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of helping someone completely. We can’t imagine being able to entirely resolve the issues facing our neighbours and so we get stuck doing nothing. The counter to this inaction is to do what we can. So, on Sunday afternoon our family adjusted our plans to include raking Deedee’s leaves. It was a small inconvenience for us and a world of encouragement for Deedee. Baking cookies became raking leaves, which will become shovelling snow, which will grow into something else. As we left her yard, she said, “There’s still good people.”
None of these simple acts will completely combat the isolation that puts Deedee at risk, but it is something. We knew she had a sweet tooth, and now we know she’s got a taste for community. In the words of Mother Theresa, “The needs are great, and none of us ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.”
Cookies, rakes, shovels… who is at risk and what small gift can you give?
What a inspiring blog Jeff. It's nice to hear your family is so in touch with community. So often in todays busy existence we dont take time to get to know all our neighbours. Many great things begin with "Hello".
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