Letters
I started volunteering for Hospice Services a few of months ago.
I didn't know what to expect, I just figured that I would just sit there and read my book while the caregiver took a break and went to town. If the patient needed something, I would try to help.
The young lady that I was staying with is over 100 years old. At first she seemed to be frightened of me, so I just stayed in the living room and would check on her once in a while.
Then something began to change. She began to smile when I would come into the room. One day she grabbed my hand and rubbed the outside of my hand and said, “Your hand is soft,” and would not let go.
I remember thinking, “What do I do now?”
Well, I had no choice but to sit there, so I took my other hand and put it on hers and I saw her smile. So for the next two hours I sat there on the edge of the bed, holding her hand while she slept.
Something started to change within me; I no longer wanted to read my book. I just felt pure love for this person. When I was about to leave, she thanked me for holding her hand and said I was such a kind person.
Well, the next week came along and I found myself wanting to see her. When I got there she was half asleep, so I peeked around the corner, and she saw me and got all excited and wanted me to come over.
She grabbed my hand and kissed it and held onto it real tight, so I took my other hand and put it on top.
Now the last time as well as this time we did not talk, we just made a connection through holding hands.
Yes, I know that she will pass away someday, but until then I will be smiling and holding hands with someone who matters to me.
Thank you for reading my story. To be honest, Hospice Services was the last place I ever wanted to volunteer. I had heard how wonderful it was from another volunteer so I thought I would give it a try. As you can see above, I loved it!
If you would like to change a life, call Hospice Services of Lake County or your local hospice and volunteer.
Rich Fisher lives in Lakeport, Calif. Hospice Services of Lake County can be reached at http://www.lakecountyhospice.org/ , telephone 707-263-6222.
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- Written by: Rich Fisher
The two party system worked for years, because it fostered compromise and slowed the swing between extremes, which allowed the country to maintain equilibrium.
Sept. 11, 2001, allowed the conservatives to achieve a coup, the fear, the uncertainty, the very threat emphasized by the horrible attack on the twin towers allowed them to consolidate the Bush administration’s push for the Patriot Act, and tax cuts for the wealthy.
The Bush administration also allowed Dick Cheney’s Halliburton Corp. to get away with overcharges to the military in Iraq that were unheard of outside of the military industrial complex.
They even allowed a military contractor to open and operate bases inside the continental United States, even though their mercenaries were often foreigners.
These bases were allowed to own and operate automatic weapons on American soil, not allowed according to federal law. FYI: One on each coast.
We need to offset the gains made by the now discredited Bush administration, including the one vote advantage in the Supreme Court and the control of the House of Representatives.
The very courts are suffering because few judgeships are negotiating the rocky shoals of the House of Representatives, so our courts get further and further behind.
Our government is in dire need of change, and the Senate is actually making a step forward. The change of two-thirds to one-half to vote down a filibuster is decades overdue. They have been loath to do it because they could see themselves using it periodically.
If we do not reverse the trend to erase the middle class, we will create not just income disparity as we have now, but social chaos.
The conservatives forget that they may not live in our neighborhoods, but they must live in the same environment.
If society destabilizes, we follow the same path as the French. Riots, starving and desperation would lead to political instability. Hitler and Napoleon both came to power under the same type of circumstances.
We do not believe in military governments, or coups. We definitely do not want to create a climate for an extremist government.
I am a progressive, one who believes in liberal programs and the social safety net. On the other hand, I believe in our right to carry firearms. We need to be able to defend ourselves from lawlessness, as the police were not meant to be bodyguards, but law enforcers.
The answer is jobs, and education. The culture in the lower class does not encourage education, and our country today does not foster job development. In history, countries fall when they do not keep their people working and involved as citizens.
Our system of locking up minorities and the undereducated in giant warehouses called prisons is counterproductive.
They and their families become intergenerational members of a permanent under-class. Millions of affected adults and children increase the membership of those who have no hope, and have no real investment in our country.
Short-sighted politicians cannot see that the money would be better invested in the economy, instead of in any prison system or waging war, whether on man or drugs.
Dave Gebhard lives in Lakeport, Calif.
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- Written by: Dave Gebhard
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