Friday, April 24, 2020

Be Kind


 











I am heart broken. A plague is running rampant through our world. The economy is becoming more and more unstable. Tornadoes are ripping through the south devastating people’s lives. Earth quakes are threatening people I love. Our government is in a shamble. The hurricane season will be starting shortly. And the food supply is dwindling for various reasons throughout the country. But, “As long as I’m all right, you don’t matter,” seems to be the mantra of our country. We are blaming others for our problems and isolating, hiding from the world, the village, the neighbors. And yet the spirit of the Samaritan lives on: One of the many examples are the families who lost their homes from tornadoes and were taken in by their neighbors in spite of the isolation directive.

When we had the wild fire in Los Alamos in May 2000 which took out a quarter of our town, the residents came together. They helped each other, They worked together. They were a force for the rebuilding of our town, our families, our government, our society, our environment. People came from all over the country to give, to encourage, to help us.
But we in our small neighborhood are shutting people out. Why? Yes, someone peeked through my window -several people-, several times. Yes, people felt free to feed their horses with our apples. (We have lots of apples and are happy to share.) Yes, people let their dogs run free leaving presents for us to find and their horses to express themselves in our drive- to us this is just part of a rural “neighborhood”.

Edwin Markham wrote "
“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!”
Times are coming that we are going to need each other.
In spite of the difficulties we are facing in our country, in our world right now,
Can we take a moment to smile at our neighbors, have a kind world for those who take time and effort to help us, help those in need. I still agree with our governor, “Stay home and wash your hands,”and pray for your neighbors.