When I was a child, my elderly neighbour went into hospital. He hadn’t been in hospital too many times at this point, but this was quite a serious trip.
One weekend, my dad said “come on boy, we’re going to see Mr M in the hospital.”
We went, and I remember the smile on his face when he saw us show up, unannounced. I must’ve been 9 or 10, but I remember seeing the pure joy on his face, and a tear of happiness run down his cheek. I don’t remember much else about the visit itself. Now I’m an adult, in hindsight:
His kids lived far away and couldn’t visit
His wife had passed away a few years back
His friends had all passed or were too frail to visit.
We may have been the only people to visit that day, we may have been the only people that week. I have no idea. We continued to visit a few times, both while he was in there this time and subsequent times.
Mr M made it home this time and I popped over to go see him. Clear as day I remember him saying:
“Thank you for coming to see me in the hospital. It’s very lonely up there when you’re all alone. Having someone come and visit while you’re there is the sweetest thing you can do for a person.”
Being young, I said something back - which was probably irrelevant.
But he paused and reiterated how much it meant to him and now its branded deep in my memory bank.
Since that experience, I’ve made the effort to make sure I show up in these scenarios. Especially as a part of my role, I’ll show up anywhere to make sure the paperwork goes through the claim process quickly. But I’ll stay for a while because, I just want to show that person that people do care!
It’s really not hard to show up and just sit there for half an hour.
Love will keep you alive. You never know when it might just be the thing that keeps that person going.
Tiny gesture, massive impact. I still try living by this rule – even when I don’t have time.
