Eileen Embree

Worth

December 11th, 2007

Recently our 5-year old granddaughter was visiting.  She moves about our house with the confident air of one who knows she “belongs” here…knows where everything is kept…knows the rules.  She helped me bake a pie, and was positively bursting with pride when it was served.  Seeing others enjoy the fruits of her labors, knowing she did a good job, receiving praise…seemed to fill her with joy.

I know how she feels.  It is good to work hard and be appreciated and “belong.”  The quality of life is greatly enhanced by the sense that I am a contributor.  But what if that were taken from me…by illness, accident, or other circumstance?  Where would I then find my worth?

I think of such things when I look at the faces of the those we serve in the Meals Program at Peter & Paul Community Services.  How hard it must be to maintain a sense of dignity in a world that only values or praises what you earn/have/do?  Sometimes they share their stories, and I am humbled.  What was it my Grandma used to say? O yes, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”  Sorry, Grandma, but I don’t think God had anything to do with it.  But yes, “there, but for a quirk of fate, a misstep, an illness, an instant, go I.”  And I don’t want to forget that.