Help Yourself!

Ask anyone who really knows me and I hope they will say I am a very caring person. I would help anyone in trouble. I often put others before myself and was always the teacher with people outside my door wanting a chat, a cry and a cuddle. Ah yes, the good old days, when it was OK to give a child a cuddle that they desperately needed without being accused of child abuse.

This morning I watched the news whilst getting my elderly father’s Sunday breakfast. It didn’t take long before I was transformed into a female Victor Meldrew. There was an item about Silverline (which I think is absolutely brilliant and I have enormous respect and admiration for Esther Rantzen). An elderly guest in the studio was interviewed about loneliness in the elderly. The main theme that ran through this was that people should do more for her. somebody should set something up. Somebody should invite her for dinner etc. I’m assuming that in her case, as she managed to get into the studio this morning, she has reasonable mobility and health. That being the case, why is she not being proactive? Why has she not spoken to someone at her local community centre or school about using a room and setting up a coffee club? Why has she not spoken to elderly neighbours to see if they would be interested in regular get-togethers? Why has she not organised a coffee morning in her own home for a local charity and invited people from her local church? Why has she not made some simple posters and put them up in her neighbourhood to see if anyone might feel the same. Why has SHE not invited someone for Sunday dinner?

I hope that when I an old, I won’t sit around whining about other people not doing things for me. If I do, you all have permission to give me a good smack and tell me to read this blog again. People complain about young people acting as if the world owes them a lot, but older people are guilty of this too.

My philosophy is that life is like a mirror. Whatever happens on one side of the glass, comes back to you. If you look into the mirror with negativity, then negativity is what you will get back. Look into that mirror, brush your hair, put on your biggest smile (even if you don’t feel it inside), put on your coat and get out there. Make things happen!