I want to talk today a little bit about #dignity and how
important it is to you and all others in your life. You see, you can have a
successful life or a #mediocre life; it really doesn’t matter as long as you
have your dignity. If your #success is based on abuse of power or the shameful
use of others, you have lost your dignity. I’m not going to talk about those
things though.
Let me get a little personal. My mother didn’t receive her
first drivers’ license until she was in her forties. In those days automobiles
were large machines. My mother was less than five feet tall. You can imagine
what it looked like with her behind the wheel of a large Oldsmobile sedan. She
was a cautious driver and followed all the rules. In time she began losing her
depth perception and her vision became somewhat blurred. The family did not
force her to give up her drivers’ license, rather, when it came time we simply
let it expire. After my fathers death we let her live #independently. My sister
lived across the street and did the shopping for her. Mother lived alone and
was quite content watching her TV shows, preparing simple meals for her self
and continuing her prayers. We let her live in dignity and she died surrounded
by her family.
A few years ago we lived next door to a wonderful senior
lady. I’ll call her Miss Louise. You could tell by talking to her that she had
lived a proud life. Her daughter, whom I’ll call ‘Jen’, sacrificed a home life
with her dedicated husband in order to care for her ailing mother. One day as
we looked out of our window we saw Miss Louise cleaning ‘things’ out of the
garage. We could see that she was #struggling so my wife went over to assist
her. Jen was busy running errands or something at the time. Miss Louise said to
my wife “Please don’t tell Jen that I’m doing this.” Indeed; Jen would read her
the riot act if she knew. The sharp cutlery was kept away from Miss Louise not
because she was suicidal, but to prevent accidents. Miss Louise enjoyed the
shrubbery growing around her front porch that she and Jen sat on every night.
One afternoon Miss Louise decided the shrubs needed trimming. Again, Jen had
left. Having nothing else in the form of tools she proceeded to trim the bushes
with a butter knife. You can imagine the outcome. Once again my wife assisted
and Miss Louise was happy. My point is, even though Jen meant well in trying to
control the activities of her mother, Miss Louise needed to preserve her
dignity. She needed to do certain things herself. Even though she had help, she
still maintained her dignity, right up until the day God finally accepted her
into heaven.
I’ve had high blood pressure for decades. I hadn’t seen a
doctor in over twelve years and of course, quit taking my medication. I’m a
smoker. Last week I had a #hemorrhagic #stroke. Between the two major types of
stroke, this is the worst. A vein ruptures and you #bleed into your brain. I
was scared. I was scared enough to listen when the doctors told me I had to #quitsmoking.
They started me on #nicotine patches. They told me to cut down on salt, quit
eating certain ‘bad’ foods and don’t drive (at least temporarily.) I came home
days ago. My wife won’t let me drive anywhere, not even the store three blocks
away. I wanted to use a circular saw for some simple cutting, she said ‘no.’
I’m not complaining, I understand precaution. But my dignity is being taken
from me. I can no longer do things that I’d like to, and am able to do. I know
it’s early in the game. I know everything for now is temporary. I also know
that I’ll #continuethefight and maintain my dignity.
