... you find someone who really has it rough.
My mother, 88 years old, recently broke her neck in a fall, was moved from the hospital to a nursing home to recover. We felt pretty bad about her pain and how she has been hit with so many problems lately, especially losing my dad 5 weeks earlier.
She was put into a room in the nursing home with an elderly woman who was clearly deranged, writhing and crying out in her bed. The woman's husband was there, patiently sitting with her, giving what love he could. It was a sure bet that this had been his lot for a long time.
We got my mom moved to a quieter room, but it was pretty sobering to see how that old man was coping with a horrific situation. It put our problems in perspective.
I might [no doubt have!] mentioned before my two rules for living, Keep Moving, Stay Cheerful. Most people don't get the stay cheerful bit and I have to say it's relatively easy for me, still healthy, never been in hospital overnight, it's easy to forget that though, one must stay attentive to all the people with real problems and worse off than I. So these people who think my second rule is silly at best are often unhappy about some thing or another, I say they have a choice.
ReplyDeleteI guess you know this story?
https://genius.com/Ursula-k-le-guin-the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-annotated