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Being
unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody,
I think
that is a much greater hunger,
a much
greater poverty than a person who has nothing to eat.
~Mother
Teresa
Police in Worcester,
Massachusetts, made a gruesome discover in October, 1993: They found a woman
dead on her kitchen floor. What made the discovery horrific was the fact that
she had been lying there for four years. Transactions on her bank account had
ended in 1989. Police speculated that she died in 1989 of natural causes. She
would have been 73 years old at that time.*
There were rumors the
woman had been placed in a nursing home. A concerned neighbor kept the grass
cut for appearances. Police requested an end to her mail deliver. When a water
pipe broke and water gushed through closed doors, another neighbor had her
water service terminated.
The neighbors were
appalled to learn it took four years to discover the death of their neighbor,
but they all knew why it happened. The woman had lived in her home for 40 years
but never spoke to others around her. She never wanted to be bothered—it is
sad, but she got her wish.
This woman was too far
away for me to notice or care about, but what about those in my neighborhood.
Do rumors spread that someone is in a nursing home and I don’t make the effort
to go see them? Life is busy, is it too busy? Could this happen in your neighborhood?
Still Lionhearted, Kat
Hearing about someone who died alone, and who didn't make enough deep connections in her life to prompt at least one person to check on her in four years ... wow, that is one of the saddest stories imaginable.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I asked a couple who lives next door to me to feed my cat once a day while I was on a trip. They were thrilled to do so. And they not only fed my cat, but the man fixed the lock on my front door (it worked, but it stuck sometimes). He's handy that way.
Had another neighbor, an elderly man, who lived across the street. We waved at each other whenever I drove by, but after a particularly bad wind storm a few years ago, I knocked on his door to check on him to see if he had power or if he needed anything. My appearance frightened him, but he calmed down once he realized I lived across the street.
Engaging neighbors is something I struggle to do, but I do it anyway.