The other day while cruising through one of our vestibules I bumped into this crew of geriatric vacuum cleaners waiting to be sent off for recycling. They had been accumulating under the back stairs apparently. One by one they got to the state when no more life could be coaxed from them and so, obviously, they were not able to do any more work.

I happen to think there is something rather fine about the way we keep our electrical equipment going for as long as we do. This is because of thrift considerations of course, and also about just taking care of things. Just like we take care of people when they break or are wearing out.

This afternoon I visited an elderly woman. In an attempt to stop her books and many belongings from sliding onto the floor I retrieved an old fashioned address metal holder from the bottom of the pile. It was obviously the cause of the precarious arrangement. Untrapped, it sprang open! ‘Oh, I keep it there because it won’t close any more’. Some things just keep on having a life don’t they, just like this bright lady.

Can we ever do enough to honour and respect the wise ones, who wear out slowly and in the process teach so much?

Here is the offertory sung at the end of the Remembrance Day ceremony :

Down Under, in Australia, there is an ER Nurse who I like to visit when I need a certain kinda lift. Here is (part of) what he has to say about what to do when a resuscitation goes bad.

Slow speed: Somewhere between rushing around like a headless chook and dropping into ‘frozen in the headlights’ inertia, is a zone of slow speed where tasks are performed with an easy fluidity. Once you have centered yourself and focused your breathing for a moment it is pretty easy to drop into this niche. And with some slow speed applied to the one thing, you will begin to accomplish a lot quickly.

When anything goes bad, or evenly mildly out of hand, most of what is listed in this article, ‘in the zone’ will come in handy. Remembering to do it is the hard part.

Remember, tomorrow is Remembrance Day.

For those who care, who are the carers of those who need caring for, nine bows of gratitude.
For the nurse who was punched to-day, by a patient suffering from dementia, Bows.
For the elderly man with terminal cancer who cared for his wife until the time now come, to be cared for. Valiant man!

Nine bows to all those who, alone or with others, face the task of helping another to get through another day, and another day and another and another…the unrelenting another day. I’ve been there and those days have been privileged days. Perhaps those days never end.

In many ways giving is easy receiving care, not so easy. I hope I have the good grace and fortitude to be cared for, should that time ever come.