Up until now this blog has been about describing the view of life from out here on the frontier of the human experience. The purpose has not been to separate out those of us of a certain age, but to share the challenges, joys, and foibles of older adults. We seniors are not something separate, but just humanity at a different time of life.
But now, during the current health crisis, I am concentrating on remembering that we are all in this together, no matter what our stage of life. We are in this with our neighbors, our community, our country and our world. We are just human beings sharing a planet in trouble. I share here some thoughts for the times.
The Bible, King James Version
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.
Matthew 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.
Philippians 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Luke 10:27 …Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.
The Quran
Al Quran 16:129 Indeed, Allah is with those who are righteous and those who do good.
Al Quran 4:37 And worship Allah and associate naught with Him, and show kindness to parents, and to kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and to the neighbor that is a kinsman and the neighbor that is a stranger and the companion by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom your right hand possess.
Al Quran 16.91 Indeed, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others.
Al Quran 4:20 Consort with them in kindness and if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike a thing wherein Allah has placed much good.
The Talmud
Do not isolate thyself from the community and its interests.
It is our duty to relieve the poor and the needy, to visit the sick and bury the dead without distinction of race or creed.
Spending alms and practicing benevolence exceed in importance all the other laws of the Torah.
Acts of kindness are greater than charity since they can be done for both the rich and poor… Charity can only be done with one’s money, while acts of loving-kindness can be performed both personally and with one’s money. - Rambam (Hilchos Aivel 14:1)
And From My Two Favorite American Poets
Emily Dickinson “If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking”
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
Robert Frost “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.