I haven't been posting much this year but, honestly, I've been dealing with some tough stuff and it isn't made any easier by the fact that I deal with health issues and with PTSD every day. It's important to me to stay positive but it was reaching the point where I didn't have anything good to say, so I simply had to hush.
In the past year or so, I've written a few "guest" (in other words, unpaid) editorials for the local news rag and they wanted more free work from me. But when I offered an article as long as it would be published anonymously, they refused. I can understand that. But I also couldn't put my name to the story because local folks know me, and I didn't want to deal with the shame and any attention my situation might get me.
So, it has taken me awhile to decide to toughen up and share my little editorial here on my blog. Undoubtedly my few intrepid loyal readers have probably all decamped by now but if this story reaches only one person who can reach out to one other person in need, then that will be enough. Good Enough. The way it should be.
I'm not asking for anything for myself. Just look out for your family, friends, neighbors, local folks. Share with others in any way that you are able. It's all good.
Here's what I wrote that the local newspaper wouldn't publish without my name attached:
The Hunger Next Door
This is tough to admit: I have been going hungry.
I don't mean "hangry" like those silly TV ads. I mean hungry, as in often doing without enough food due to poverty.
It has only been through the help of a few thoughtful and observant friends that I have endured this difficult year.
Most people are unaware of my struggle. Certainly when I went to church recently, no one would have realized that I was actually truly very hungry when I laughed off my growling stomach as merely the need for an early lunch. I didn't look any different from anyone else but then you don't expect a sign to appear over a person's head that says, "Please, help me, I'm hungry."
There was a notice in the Sunday bulletin that the church was asking for donations for the poor but I was too uncomfortable to admit to being one of them. And I was ashamed that I had nothing to give.
It isn't just me. There are hungry people all around but we may be so busy about our own lives and so unaware of what it is like to go hungry ourselves that we may not notice them. And those who are hungry may be unlikely to tell you because it is an embarrassing thing to have to admit.
The painful fact is that hungry people may be right next door or maybe even in the pew beside you at church.
How do we recognize those in hidden need? Take time to listen to your friends and to your neighbors, to the relative that no one really likes, to the old man down the street who doesn't get visitors, to the student who always seems tired. When you open your heart, you may hear the true need: that person may be hungry.
It doesn't take much to help; just share that extra can of tomato soup from your pantry or give away the bountiful squash from your garden. There is so much encouragement shared when the gift is given with a kind heart and only a quiet comment.
Life is good. It's up to each of us to make it better.
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