Last night, as many of you know, I asked for help in purchasing a reclining lift chair for the elderly for Connie, a resident of the Mansion assisted care facility in Cambridge, N.Y.
The chair that bought cost $899 and will arrive in a week. I
t was purchased with the help of the Army of Good, who sent me more than $1,000 for the chair in just minutes, and also another $1,000 to replenish my fund for the Mansion residents and the RISSE refugees. There is now about $1,700 in that fund.
Donations have slowed this morning, but are still coming.
Thank you.
The Medlift chair has enormous significance for me, beyond the fact that Connie is suffering greatly and needs it urgently. It will help her get up and walk and also be more comfortable.
The chair has an infrared heating system that, when turned out, will help heal the fractures in her back.
It will help in others ways as well, I am not free to discuss her health in more detail.
The experience last night goes for me to the heart of what it means to live in America and be an American. So many people – myself included – are worried about the soul of America. But I saw the soul of America last night, as I have seen it repeatedly over the past year.
Watching the news, it is easy enough to feel grim about the country, but from where I sit, my faith if America has never been stronger.
After last November’s election, I saw the anger and division and arguments sweeping the country and decided not to be a part of them. I didn’t wish to spent a significant portion of the rest of my life arguing with people, on and off of social media, or obsessing on the country and it’s deepening conflicts, or getting depressed.
So I chose to do good and righteous things, at long last, and speak to the better angels in myself and others. Connie was one of the first people I met in that journey, I met her at the Mansion assisted care facility, she seemed feisty and lonely to me, and searching for some meaning.
She loved Red dearly, and has a wicked sense of humor, and a sharp and true tongue. She misses nothing and speaks her mind.
She loves to knit, she said, but had no yarn or other equipment, and so I asked the readers of my blog if they could help. And help they did. Connie’s room quickly filled up with yarn and needles and patterns and she went to work with industry and vigor, making caps and scarves for the Mansion staff, who love her, and for children in area hospitals.
Her room filled up with so much yarn the staff had to put it in big plastic tubs and store some in the Mansion basement. Her room was hot in the summer, and we got her an air conditioner, which helped with her energy and breathing – she has several chronic diseases and needs oxygen tubes to breathe properly.
This work transformed her, she loved doing it and helping others, and she became healthier and dramatically happier. We all need purpose in our lives, and Connie got hers back. The staffs said they had never seen her happier.
A few months ago, Connie, who is in her 80’s, experienced several health problems and was hospitalized several times,. She was in a nursing home for a time, and fought to get back to the Mansion, which she loves. And she has been struggling to get up and walk and move frequently, as the doctors have urged.
When we got back from the Mansion, I went to see her with Maria and Red and saw that her struggle had intensified, and I could see she was in great pain, not able for now to read her beloved mysteries or knit her caps and sweaters – she and Maria have several projects planned.
If she is not mobile, she can’t remain in the Mansion, those are the federal rules. They simply can’t provide that level of care. so she is working hard to walk as much as possible. A painful and wearying challenge for her.
Her old chair, which she bought second-hand, was falling apart and no longer gave her the orthopedic support she urgently needs. She told me she was going to liquidate some money – she has little or no money – and buy a new chair, when Connie says something like that, you know it is urgent.
The new chair will do many things for her, including helping her stand up quickly and comfortable, the start of her walking.
I told her to wait and asked for help before buying the chair. Connie has never asked me for help, I have to simply get what I think she needs and wants. I’ve gotten good at it, to her surprise and amusement.
The Army Of Good must have been sitting at their computers when I asked for help, because the donations started flying and didn’t slow down until I announced I had bought the chair at 9 p.m. Even then, they kept coming, and at a slower rate, are coming still.
This is my America, this is the true soul of the country I know and love. It is alive and well and paying attention.
People heard the call and came running, no questions, no conditions, no demands, none of the occasional social media strangeness. I will have the Mansion fund up to $2,500 by the end of the day and Connie will have her chair about a week from now.
Connie has some steep hills to climb. She is clear-eyed and brave and honest, she will take comfort from and make good use of that chair, and we all can feel something good from helping to make this happen.
So this chair is important to me and others who sometimes lost heart or faith in the idea of America. It is a symbol and a metaphor. We are a generous and tolerant and loving people, I can sometimes hear all those big hearts beating and thumping out there. Connie is not a rich or powerful person, she has few advocates but us and the wonderful people who take care of her.
This is what the Americans I know have always done, and always prided themselves in doing, it is who we really are, as Connie and so many others have learned this year, a wonderful year in so many ways.
Nobody needs to help Connie, she has no rich or powerful friends, and she will never be on cable news or any news or the President’s Twitter account (just think of the people he could help with that account, it makes me shiver). All you had to do is ignore the call, and so many responded to it
So the chair is important and every time I look at it, it will give me hope and burnish my faith and strong belief in tomorrow. I will keep at this and I hope you will stay with me, we are committing small acts of great kindness every day and proving again that doing good is a powerful and rational response to hate and discord.
Love is more powerful than hate, it will always prevail in time.
I hope this feels as good for you as it does for me, it makes me feel so grateful to be alive and a writer and picture-taker.
Much love to you, and thanks again.
If anyone wishes to donate to the Mansion Fund, which is used to help Mansion residents and refugees and immigrants, you can do so by sending a check to Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or contribute via Paypal, [email protected]. If you wish your donation to go to the Mansion residents or refugees, please note that. If you wish to support my work or my blog, you can donate here, as some people did so generously yesterday.
Every penny will be spent wisely and well.