I’ve just come in from the mailbox and have been sitting here enjoying … or maybe not enjoying … what the mailman dropped in the box . It’s my St. Jude’ s Children’s Hospital Calendar for the upcoming year and each month is decorated with the beautiful art from past young patients or their siblings . Some of their stories have happy endings though not nearly enough of them ….
The last page of the calendar has a paragraph entitled “Ariana’s Story” and I feel it’s a worthy read though it doesn’t have a happy ending . Ariana was a little girl who honestly wanted to help others and just didn’t have have enough time to do so ….
Like most of us I know someone who might be considered by others to be a major pain in the ass . Truth be told there might have been a brief moment or two way back when that I thought the same as he not only wanted things … he demanded them . And demanding people can often become a bore , even when they are right or even while demanding things that are for the betterment of all . But demanding people get involved and sometimes involvement is what we all need .
The very first sentence in Ariana’s story on that last page of my wonderful calendar is
” To love and care for your neighbor as yourself ”
Sounds kind of corny , right ? Maybe it is now but it it didn’t used to be here in the United States.
Someone I know recently needed a helping hand and of all his choices he knew who he needed to ask for help . At genuine risk and inconvenience to themselves a couple answered that request and reached out to provide that help though many other neighbors wouldn’t have .
Thank you Charlie and Sylvia … for being good neighbors ,
and I hope you have decades more time to accomplish more of the same.
