Sunset, Carolina Low Country
It’s been said that human beings were created to be loved and things are created to be used. All too often, we get the process reversed. During his final meal with his disciples in an upper room on Maundy (mandate) Thursday, Jesus left them with three mandates; love others, serve others, and remember him. It was essentially a poignant goodbye after three years of high adventure and world changing teachings. As he died on the cross, his poignant goodbye was simply, “It is finished”. His poignant goodbye to Peter was a mandate to “Feed my lambs”. And just before his final poignant goodbye and ascension into heaven, he mandated that we spread the good news to the entire world.
A health care aide at a geriatric ward recently shared an extraordinarily poignant goodbye. A very frail and older woman had motioned for her to come over to her. When the aide positioned her ear close to the elderly woman’s mouth, she softly said, “I just wanted to say goodbye to someone”. She died a few days later. The woman was not an anomaly. There are hundreds of isolated and cast off people in every community that suffer alone in silence who simply need someone to just be there. They may not be dying physically at the time, but they are quite probably dying emotionally. And as much as it matters for someone to acknowledge their presence, it also matters that someone acknowledges their parting and remembers them, if only for a while.
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