To the Editor:
Once again this Saturday, Stage Fort Park will be the center of activity as runners, walkers, and caregivers join together to raise funds for the Seacoast Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
What a wonderful way to start a glorious summer morning and for such a great cause.
God knows the upcoming generation(s) will always need guidance and nurturing. Why can’t we give similar care to those at the other end of the spectrum? We can show this population of seniors that they helped to create a good and caring world and that they are meaningful to us.
Our seniors lived in a less materialistic world, where people’s handshakes were their word and time with family was more important than things. Remember the days when you were just as excited to get a firefly in a glass jar as you were to get a BMW? Me neither, but nonetheless, this generation did what they could given each of their individual circumstances and we should step up to the plate and do what we can: A random act of kindness for an older resident of Gloucester.
Once a generation of people is gone, their insight can never be replicated; their words will resonate in our lives forever.
My mother’s expressions come back to me every day. “Do you want your face to freeze like that?” “Wait until your father gets home” “Unlucky in cards, lucky in love” to name a few. My favorite was when she would smile and say, “What a good kid.” Hearing her still saying this when I turned 50 meant even more than when I was 6.
Like us, our seniors can be tough. Even my adorable father can have his annoying traits. I mean, I break my back tending his garden just to hear, “Gee, do you think you can train those morning glories to climb up the trellis?”
I can’t train my dog to sit, and he is expecting me to prevent a morning glory from strangling a shasta daisy in a flower bed. Really, Ralph?
A teenager that I met recently was devastated by the loss of her great-grandmother and even got a tattoo as a remembrance. My great-grandmother taught me how to say the “Our Father” in French, and I can’t tell you how many times that has saved my sorry little derrière. Of course, back then, if I had gotten a tattoo in her honor, my bags would be packed and left on the curb right next to my little red French beret.
Even if you can’t find time to participate on Saturday, please check out www.seacoastseven.com and possibly make a donation. Sorry to get all Pollyanna-ish on you, but why not think of visiting and getting to know one of the wonderful residents or rehab patients at Seacoast? As Huey Lewis (I could so see him playing at Seacoast) so aptly put it, “Don’t need money, don’t need fame, don’t need no credit card to play this game.” Time is still on our side and I can’t think of any better way to be “a good kid” than caring for another human being. You can make a difference — please do!
CINDY HENDRICKSON
Kent Circle, Gloucester
