“One day it will be you”: Mum’s heartbreaking lesson in kindness

Posted in Wellbeing.
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We all love saying how busy our life is, and sure, life is busy.

“One day it will be you”

But when your life is so busy that you can’t stop and help an elderly man – who’s taken a fall right next to the café you’re sitting in – well, maybe you need to change how busy you are.

That’s the sentiment of this beautiful post from Adele Barbaro AKA The Real Mumma.

Twice this week, I have watched an elderly individual, fade into the busy life in which we all live. One man just needed…

Posted by Adele Barbaro- The Real Mumma on Tuesday, 22 January 2019


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Adele describes a week when she encountered two elderly men, one who needed help finding something in the supermarket and another who was badly injured and put out by the terrible heat.

As she writes:

“When you see an elderly person walking down the street, searching in the supermarket or struggling to their car, take a minute out of your busy schedule and ask them if they need a hand. Think about your grandparents and your parents and how pissed you would be if someone didn’t stop to help them. But more, think of them as you. 

“Once upon a time, they were you. They were busy, they had work, they had children, they were able … Today, they are just in an older body that is not going as fast as it used to and this busy life is fucking confusing. They deserve our utmost respect and consideration. One day it will be you, it will be us. I wish more people gave a shit about them and acknowledged them for their admirable existence and geez I hope someday, not that far away, someone does it for me.”

“It’s amazing you posted this today”

Adele’s post touched lots of readers, with people sharing some really heartbreaking stories.

“It’s amazing you posted this today….my heart broke for an elderly man today,” one commenter shared. “He was frail and trying to cross a busy intersection, he was slow so kept missing the green man. I stopped and insisted on helping him, not a single other person paid him any attention.”

Another commenter recounted an act of kindness she witnessed in a supermarket:

“The other day at the shops I was standing behind a lady who has an elderly man in front of her paying for some very basic staples. He was telling the cashier that he has no fridge so has to come to the shops every day to buy food as it will go off with no fridge. This amazing women in front of me says to him, ‘What do you mean you have no fridge? You can’t have no fridge, give me your address and I will bring you a fridge this afternoon.'”

Ah, it’s enough to break your heart.

Let’s not underestimate the value of kindness in life.

It means teaching our kids to consider the needs of others and finding ways to help where we can, no matter how busy we are.

Thanks for the reminder, Adele.

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