Blogs by Edie M. Batstone
Hold That Thought!
9/3/2011 11:08:01 AM
My mother is now adjusting to her new home at a Care Centre, and during my visits there, I humbly put together a few of my thoughts into this essay.
Hold That Thought!
If I could hold one thought for longer than the flash that it occurs in, and really make it count, which one might it be, and what would I do with it? As I watched the group of seniors sitting in the large circle of chairs in the common room at the Care Centre, I wondered what valuable thoughts were circling within those seasoned minds, possibly ‘on hold’ and unable to make the wider trip outside of their consciousness any more. Their eyes were trying to communicate, until, in many cases, they had given up and just closed down - temporarily exhausted from the struggle. I wonder if, in their gaze, some of those thoughts might have been trying to tell me: “Don’t neglect expressing every one of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas, while you can – before the door starts to close, and while you still have the ability to move out into the world and make it listen.
I also wonder if some of them may be thinking, “Why are you yelling in my face – My hearing is fine! I just can’t verbalize any more, and there is no way that speaking louder is going to fix that." Or they might be thinking: “The next time they throw that ball at me - I’ll actually catch it and go for a homerun through the dining hall!"
No matter how well-intentioned the attempts to help are, and the staff at the Centre are truly kind angels, sometimes we are all left playing the ultimate guessing game, with the stakes being the precious prize of human dignity. We, on the outside looking in, can easily lose sight of the enormous potential of life experience that these residents have had to hand over, as their world became redefined within these caring but confining walls.
Sometimes it’s not so much that we can’t see, but that we can see; and the reality makes us very uncomfortable – We come to the point where we are looking at our own possible future.
So, I will pass along one thought in the hopes that it will still be there when my time comes: Never underestimate the power of a smile – When all of our words fail, and the thought processes are challenged, it is the one form of communication that still finds its way - straight to the heart. Hold that thought!
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