Growing in Solidarity

This is the original blog that was reworked to fit the narrative in Faith from Stone.

Be calm. Be kind. Be Safe.

Okay, here we are six months in assisted-living and I just had my annual MS review. Quality of life has greatly improved but physical decline continues to circle the drain and I can get bummed out about that. 

Follow that up with a few days of BBC news and that can pretty much rain on any parade. My doctor suggested counseling. Great. One more log on the pile. I told her I would consider it.

I can chase around to doctors, appointments, and professionals looking for relief but I only have so much energy and is that how I really want to spend it? And to what end? So these past weeks have been about discerning my priorities and where I’d like to spend my diminishing resources, the ever-ending theme of MS.

So while that plate is spinning, I continue to connect with my inner circle. I’m so thankful for my girlfriends simple walks and field trips. Just hearing about their worlds and doings gets me away from me and mine. 

Today Shauna and I were out walking in the ‘hood and talking about the high overdose rate just announced.  She is involved with a street ministry where they put together bag lunches since there are no more kitchens. We were brainstorming what could be added in each little bag as a personal touch to show we care. We both know the well-known principle ‘When one suffers, we all suffer.’

The conversation wove around to how valued and cared-about I felt when they reached out to me and actually entered into my MS world. Not just drove me around me around or brought me veggies from their garden. But walked beside me, went to appointments, engaged in my week to week challenges, included me in their social gatherings. And that caring boosted my self-worth beyond measure. It literally transformed me.

I have another friend who works closely with alcoholics. She too enters into their world and walks beside them, not so much to fix or cure or have answers but to let them know they are loved.

And isn’t that exactly what the conversation with Shauna was all about? How to reach out to our vulnerable brothers and sisters to help fill their social void, to show we see them as valuable. To build one body of people. 

And isn’t that what Bonnie Henry is all about? Caring for each other? Creating unity across all sectors? And isn’t that what garnered such wide respect for her methods?

So roll all that into one and the arrows all pointed in the same direction: building solidarity as one people. And in just the small circle I hang out with, we are stimulating each other to do exactly that in our respective ways.

For the rest of the afternoon I was inspired to connect with an annual or bi/tri annual friend just to say hi (as has been my Covid custom). I did a cartoon for my 6 year old pen pal Sara who I have been conversing with since March. She recently wrote me saying her family is going camping so I thought it’d be fun to send some camping cartoons with my reply. And then answered a few emails, made a few calls and the day flew by.

I know when I lay my head down tonight, I’ll be tired. And not from being bummed out, but instead from the joy of taking action in creating a future I believe in. 

And go figure. My priorities presented themselves without really grinding it.