Our house now has a brand new roof, and there’s a blissful quiet. The roofers are still working in our hood, but they’ve moved on to other streets. Thankfully, the dogs are back into their normal routines of opportunistic barking. We made it through our roofing day by giving the dogs some mellow meds, and the medicine did the trick. Our sanity was preserved through the miracle of chemistry!
As I’ve watched the roofers working during the past several weeks, I was remembering a conversation with my mother. I was home from college for the summer, and she was driving me to work. It was one of those hot and humid summer days, in the City of Detroit. I was complaining about having to go to work in a stifling, un-airconditioned factory. My mother listened to me whine, and then quietly responded, saying “There is honor in all work.”
I’ve never forgotten what my mother said on that very warm summer morning. I’ve had many different jobs since those days; some that I’ve liked, and some that I haven’t. But I’ve not forgotten what they each have had in common. Each job, big or small, was always filled with honor.
It’s been really hard for me to experience not working. I’ve always had some kind of job, and often I’ve had two. Some paid well, and some not so much, but my working became a habit. It’s been hard for me to accept that those days have been ended by my Dementia.
But there is honor to be found in other places, and in other folks. And our country needs that honor now, more than ever. Honor is not something that can be attained by one’s political persuasion. Nor can one buy honor, though many have tried to do so. Honor does not come from being in a political position; honor comes from humility, and how one serves in that position.
I have been privileged to know many folks of honor. They have taught me many things, and have made me so much a better person. But the words that my mother taught me on the way to work never go out of style. Whatever job you find to do, do it so you may know that in humility there is great honor.
Reflections on Dementia 