A Ted Talk To Give You Hope

 How a Team of Chefs Fed Puerto Rico

After Hurricane Maria

Making a Life in Mexico - by Grace Ducet

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”  

Winston Churchill

Volunteering has always been part of my life. However, it wasn’t until I retired and moved to Mexico that I realized it was something that made me come alive.

While still working it was always something I did when I had the chance and a lesser priority than professional and family obligations. I was able to volunteer at a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline because I could work the night shift on a weekend without letting this interfere with my other obligations. 

Arriving in Mexico opened up a host of other opportunities to allow me to devote my time and energy to these efforts and it quickly became a passion. The challenge was to select which organization would be the best fit.

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Renewal and Revolution - by S. Timothy Glasscock

We are always in the act of renewal. Just getting out of bed in the morning says you are willing to renew your efforts to have a successful day. Renewal. Getting in the car (or on the computer) to go to work is a renewal of your commitment to your employment. Stepping on the scale, taking that morning walk, putting down the bag of chips— all signs of a renewed willingness to put or to keep your health in check. We make meaningful statements with our actions, but we are doing nothing new. If we possess any amount of self-regard or personal self-worth, we are continuing on a usual and healthy path. 

But other actions are revolutionary. The act of going out of your way to comfort another human being, to build them up, to turn away from your own needs for the sake of someone else’s. Revolution. It’s a “turning around” of something from the way it was to a “new normal.” Humans, as a rule, tend to their own needs (to say it another way, they are selfish) so when they forsake that norm,  it is remarkable, revolutionary, and should not go unnoticed. 

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Supporting Each Other

Recently several friends and I were emailing each other, sequestered in different countries. My friend Judy mentioned that someone had sent her the following about Margaret Mead...

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

My friend Christine responded with some beautiful words...

"Lovely. So instead of telling everyone to take care of themselves through this we should be saying, I’m trying to take care of you….I am staying home to protect you and me, I am connecting with you remotely so you are not lonely, I am buying food from your restaurant so you come out of this with a job, I am giving the delivery people an extra large tip to acknowledge that they are keeping us fed and safe, I am sending money to the food bank and other organizations to ensure you are fed, I am making masks for the neighbors and front line workers, I am posting funny jokes to keep your spirits up, I am checking on my neighbors who live alone to make sure they have what they need."

Take care of yourselves and each other,
Cynthia