vitalwholeness

Wow, all in the same day.

First I helped my daughter who has autism with some of her practical needs (she is living independently in her own apartment, working part time, yeh!). She pays for her meager accommodations, utilities and essentials with her part time wages and help from SSI. Food stamps has augmented her tiny budget. A personal assistant (funded through the state) helps with independent living skills. She was so proud to buy my burrito at Taco Bell yesterday. Treating Dad to lunch!

Then I dropped by my aged mother-in-law’s apartment. She and her family were solid working class all their lives. She doesn’t have much more than Social Security to live on but it gets her by. She was going blind with cataracts and needed surgery in the worst way and didn’t know how she could possibly afford it. But the surgery was covered by Medicare and her little supplemental policy to cover the balance. But she needed new glasses and didn’t know how she could cover them. Surprise – she just discovered that they were also covered. She can see again.

I am so thankful that I live in a compassionate society in which we all contribute in ways that care for those who need it most. There was a time that we left such people on the ash heap. Not now. In the same way that evil or vice can take on collective or social form, so can virtue. What a pleasure it is for me, personally, to do my share, contribute in the tiny ways I can, so that all may flourish in a republic that possesses untold resources.