Real talk and a call to action · 12:30pm Mar 31st, 2020
As some of you might or might not be aware, I work in a call center.
It's not glamorous, but it pays the bills most of the time.
Last night, I got a phone call from a woman who just wanted to change her dental appointment. She was very elderly and more than anything, very, very lonely. Mercy, she was lonely.
There weren't any other calls coming in and I was bored, so we sat and visited for about fifteen minutes. There's a dentist somewhere who is going to have a very curiously expensive phone call on his next answering service bill, but screw'em, they can afford it. We talked about her family. Her brothers both died in World War Two. We talked about the people she missed. We talked about her fear of this virus.
She had nobody alive who knew her as anything more than an acquaintance. Her mother and sister were dead.
At the end of the call, she asked my name, then gave me hers.
She begged me to remember her.
She begged.
I've taken several of these calls. I talked to my coworker in the morning and we've apparently been getting lots of them. So, this month, we're not doing any donations to me.
If you enjoy Starlight Over Detrot and you've got a little extra to give, I want you to give it to a senior relief fund.
Lines for Life : https://www.linesforlife.org/blog/announcing-the-senior-loneliness-line/
We've got a responsibility, as bronies and as human beings to take care of each other. If you have an elderly person in your life, call them. Reach out. Be a friend right now, because once this virus has run its course, we'll want people to remember us one day. Be worthy of remembering.
-Chessie
It sounds like you did good there, Chessie, and I hope this post helps people. Signal boosted, for what it's worth.
5232428 It's worth a lot.
-Chessie
Thank you for being an excellent human being to a person who so desperately needed it.
Taking the time to listen to someone in need is a kindness that is getting far too rare in our fast paced, self focused and dismissive society... especially at this moment in history there are going to be so many people for whom the need for this simple kindness will be the highest it has ever been and, quite likely, will ever be in their lives.
Wish I could thumbs up a blog. Good stuff!
Elderly, yes, but the disabled people in your life, too.
I’ve had to have a very difficult conversation with my case manager re: different scenarios, given my lack of local support. We know the strong likelyhood is I wouldn’t get full treatment at the hospital.
Thank you for posting, you have a good soul.
also, food banks could use our help, a lot of them are running low on just about everything right about now.
Quite frankly, this is basically the only thing worth doing unless we manage to pull off the Singularity.
If they’re okay with it, I’ll gladly listen to their stories if you want to record them here.
who lives or dies, who tells their story
5232624 This is my big hope for the future. We'll make all of this worth it. Please, please let us do that.
-Chessie
This. Very much this. Never pass up on an opportunity to say "I love you" to a loved one.
I have several; and yes, not only do I talk to them fairly often; but I’ve made sure that they have the means and skills (smartphone & apps, etc) to keep in touch with each other.
There’s nothing quite like feeling that you’re all alone in the world...
Thanks for posting about this. A lot of people are going to be socially cut off over the next few months, and we need to ensure they're not forgotten.