large life lesson

Friday, November 02, 2007

large life lesson

i learned a large life lesson today, one i hope that i will never forget.

there was a woman who used to live in the basement bachelor apartment in the same building as i live in. she had a lot of cats, and used to feed all the birds and squirrels. she used to watch what everyone did, and talked to anyone who would listen. a number of things happened, she drove me nuts, and i called her the mad cat woman. i consciously chose not to pay her any attention, nor to be her friend.

i received a call today from a mutual friend who had stayed in touch with her after she moved into a house. my friend had not heard from the mad cat woman in over a week and, knowing she was sick, went to her house and broke in through the bathroom window. she found her upstairs in her bed, she had been dead for a week.

i think it is so sad that she died alone, and that it took a week for it to be noticed that she was gone. i had the power to have been her friend, to be someone in her network, and to watch out for her. i was given the opportunity to do good in this world, and i chose not to. i was wrong, and i should have given a damn, and should have contributed good rather than turning my back on someone who was lonely, and who could have done with my friendship.

i preach so much about being good to other people, about being there for them, and about how we are all in this world together so have to help one another. yet i was a hypocrite with this, and i turned my back on someone. that was wrong of me to have done that.

so today, i learned a large life lesson. when the opportunity is presented to me to do some good in this world, i am not going to turn it down. i will contribute what i can, where i can, and when i am able to instead of choosing to turn my back.

in this case, it is too late for me to say i am sorry to her, and it is too late to be her friend...but it is not too late for me to learn from my mistake.

lou