Contributor Nancy Scott – To Be Of Use
Do any of you feel your inspiration and energy slipping? The new year is a time to count or to find blessings.
A quote from January’s Guideposts started me thinking: “There is satisfaction in wisdom, in having loved people and accomplished things, in having not wasted all our time with caution and escape.”
People often believe that blind folks sit around with no purpose. We can come to believe this too. So let me tell you about one little end-of-year week full of clues about what to do and not do. I’ll skip necessary things–cleaning, bill paying, exercising. I’ll skip my struggle balancing desire, mythology, and practicality–they are ongoing and revised more slowly with repeated “guidance.”
I began the week listening to Karen lament her cut in work hours and how she has never had a raise. “Some residents,” she said, “were very generous with Christmas presents this year.” Generosity, being listened to, and being valued keep us caring about what we do.
So I checked in with several other friends who need someone to carefully listen or at least someone to think about them, including a 93-year-old who asked to call me to test her new cell phone because she didn’t know who else to call.
I record NASA information for voice-mail. Marcia commented, “I haven’t heard a launch and docking for years. I used to be so involved with this and I got all the old feelings again.” Esther also thanked me for sending the early morning Soyuz launch.
On Monday night the heat was off in my apartment row. I’m usually the first person to notice such things. I told Maintenance at 9:00 that “It’s probably better than people calling at 3 a.m.”
Bev is my computer wizard. On Wednesday I was about to call her concerning e-mailing a bio to clinch a publication when she called me. (Synchronicity?)
The switch in NASA TV’s satellite was something I warned my cable company about, over a month ago. For the first time in such situations, there was no local interruption in NASA programming. And, yes, I called back to compliment then. (I always report NASA issues, and they trust me now.)
We must beware of that “we don’t matter” syndrome. Maybe no one is there at midnight or when we feel particularly frail. But I, for one, have a lifestyle of all-hours NASA events or reading whenever I wake up. Or writing a rough draft on New Year’s Eve. I mustn’t take the luxury of moldable time for granted.
And Bev is nudging me toward a new project. Besides being very purposeful herself, Bev is a voice teacher. “Did you do any Christmas singing?” she asked. “No,” I said, “my voice is shot.” “That’s not true. I can hear that your voice isn’t gone.” Because of catching too many colds, I had to give up music-therapy volunteer work. But the CDs are still here–I could perform Karaoke. I could help carol next Christmas. I could enjoy the process, and perhaps inspire others. And I just met a new tenant on my floor who practices soprano opera an hour a day, which is surely a sign.