This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Life Enhancing Tips and How To's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
To my delight I got to experience a for real “Southern” memorial. We celebrated the life of a magnificient man who lived a full, challenging, and memorable life. Indeed we were celebrating a life well lived. Certainly not an “easy” life, but a life that was constructed by a dynamic man who turned strife into challenges, set backs into step forwards. A man who was loved and valued by many not because of what he did, but because of the gracious way he handled life’s challenges which would have brought most of us to our knees.
What was so uplifting to me was the social support. Pies, cakes, meat plates, chips all messages of love and concern were delivered to the family. I ate for the first time a multi layered caramel cake made famous by Miss Hattie. As each treat was delivered to the family the sense of love and compassion accompanied the delivery.
The family was not alone. In fact, we were surrounded by deviled eggs, chicken salad, cookies, fruit all gestures that communicated love and care when somehow words were just not quite enough.
What an amazing community ! People came through the reception line, people who had been friends since elementary school, people who grew up together, worked together, played together and mourned together. Continuity, community, and compassion.
I reflect on my own life as an urban girl. Growing up in Los Angeles where connections were random, autonomous, and fleeting. What a contrast to this community where people celebrating both the triumphs as well as the disappointments.
What an interesting reality check it would be to examine our own communities and see where we fall on the community support during times of challenge, celebration, or transition. I hear from so many, including many in my relatively small but impersonal community, that the isolation or lack of connection breeds feelings of isolation and aloneness. Here at least it takes a tragedy to get the community mobilized, but once the tragedy has subsided the connection is broken.
There’s no need for us to live a life in isolation, but the apparent busyness of life gets in the way of stopping, listening, caring…and just saying “hey.”
blog on,
Beth
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