LindaC781
Proud Member
I worked on my floor from 3pm to 7pm, and then went up to the next floor to sit one on one with a very nice man. I asked the prior sitter why he needed a one-on-one, and his was a very sad story. Apparently, he just recently found out he has throat cancer, and multiple pulmonary emboli in his lungs. When he received his diagnosis, he took an overdose of Valium in the heat of the moment. He now says he won't do that again. I talked to him at length about it, only after he brought the subject up. His shoulders were sagging as if he had the weight of the world on them. His eyes teared up when he talked about it, but I didn’t interrupt - I just let him talk. He needed to tell someone about it...he had already talked to the previous sitter about his health problems.
When I saw him tearing up, I just wanted to walk over to him and give him a big hug. God, so many people have such more serious problems than I do. I did walk over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. I told him to never give up on hope and faith. I also told him that his family and friends seem to me to be very powerful forces in his life, and that he can lean on them for support now in his hour of need. I told him Hope keeps us alive. Hope is that intangible thing that we all need to cling to get through from one day to the next. Hope is the one thing that keeps us going, that makes this fight we call "Life" worthwhile. I also told him that you should never give up hope. Hope is that one thing that makes you want to wake up the following morning, alive and with expectations for the future.
Faith is also that intangible thing that keeps us alive. If we didn't have faith, there would be no reason for living. And we all have to keep on living. We have to have Faith in the future, wherever that leads us. We all need to have faith in ourselves, faith in each other, and faith in a Higher Power. Faith also is that intangible thing that helps us get through each day believing that there is hope for the future. Faith and Hope are eternally intertwined in each other, like a vine growing on a tree. You can't have Faith if you have no Hope. You can't have Hope until you have Faith...
Here's a poem I found on the web. It explains it perfectly.
From: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Poem_of_Faith
A POEM OF FAITH
by Paul Lawrence Dunbar
I think that though the clouds be dark,
That though the waves dash o'er the bark,
Yet after while the light will come,
And in calm waters safe at home
The bark will anchor.
Weep not, my sad-eyed, gray-robed maid,
Because your fairest blossoms fade,
That sorrow still o'erruns your cup,
And even though you root them up,
The weeds grow ranker.
For after while your tears shall cease,
And sorrow shall give way to peace;
The flowers shall bloom, the weeds shall die,
And in that faith seen, by and by
Thy woes shall perish.
Smile at old Fortune's adverse tide,
Smile when the scoffers sneer and chide.
Oh, not for you the gems that pale,
And not for you the flowers that fail;
Let this thought cherish:
That after while the clouds will part,
And then with joy the waiting heart
Shall feel the light come stealing in,
That drives away the cloud of sin
And breaks its power.
And you shall burst your chrysalis,
And wing away to realms of bliss,
Untrammelled, pure, divinely free,
Above all earth's anxiety