Care

It is not often I watch the 7.30 Report, but I did and I am glad.   It had a number of stories I liked. 
The one that stood out to me was about a lady that took her first aid skills to the streets of Sydney.  StreetMed was born.  She said if you want to understand why I do it, it is because I have been there.  She was homeless from 17 to 20.
When she started it, she was working in reality tv.  She thought there has to be more.  She had an epiphany, and started the outreach.  Something she said really stood out to me.  When asked why she left the security of a well-paying job, I heard “are you kidding.  I am dealing with the most important people in the world.”  I must admit I really really like that.
Often I see the most important people in the world as high-powered business executives or ultra-rich people or celebrities.  I reckon that is wrong.    The mega rich person is important, but they are not more important than the homeless person walking the streets, who may be a drug addict and have their life totally messed up.  They matter.  Heaps.
The most important person to me is my next door neighbour; the person at the shopping centre; the guy doing his job but wondering why.  They are the ones I interact with.  Not the mega rich or the celebrity.  Someone interacts with them, but not me.
One of the things the StreetMed people have found is people are longing to be heard.  Not just someone wanting to speak to tell them what to do.  That seems valid, but often people respond after they have given voice to their own world.  What they are going through.  What matters to them.  It seems so easy to have a ready answer when no question was asked.
Caring for me needn’t be my performing some world-renowned act like Mother Teresa.  It was right for her but caring for my wife, family and people around me is right for me. Caring to me is not giving to get, but giving to give.  It is not a balance sheet thing.  There may or may not be some measurable reward, but the act itself needs to be my reward.
I loved them saying to an alcoholic “we are not here to judge, but we are here to help.”  I see care as a doing word.  It seems so easy to talk about the concept in philosophical terms and explore the idea.  But until something is done, they are just ideas.    I need to resolve to care.  It helps if I don’t do it grudgingly or feel that I have to.  It also helps if it is done willingly and as much as possible, cheerfully.
My talking alone has limited value.  Doing helps.  Even when I make a mess of doing.  I have found that people respond to the heart, not the head.   Hopefully I get better, but giving it a shot counts more than my scoring high marks in theory.
There is no doubt in my mind I talk a good game.  I would give myself a pass.  My experience of caring is limited, but I do know I am giving it my best shot.  I have not got it all together, but giving it my best shot, is the best I can do.