The Day After

Today is the day after Christmas. It is a day of introspection. The wrapping paper has all been gathered up and last night’s huge meal is sitting as today’s leftovers in the fridge. Our Christmas was nice but it was one of the days that depresses Mom the most. Dad was always like a kid at Christmas time. Christmas and Father’s Day were the days he always looked forward to because he knew he would talk to all five of his children and his only grandchild. Mom misses Dad always but Christmas is one of the hardest days for her. It didn’t help that she was sick again.

While yesterday was a wonderful day for many it was a hard day for many other people. Many of the people that were caught in the devastating Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still suffering. The victims of the tsunami a year ago are still suffering. People who have lost loved ones are still hurting because someone they loved wasn’t there with them to celebrate yesterday.

One of the hardest things to learn is that you can’t take the pain away from someone else although you can be there to give them love. I know Mom will never stop missing Dad. I try to make sure she always knows that I love her but it won’t fill the empty space inside of her where Dad was.

It doesn’t mean that we should stop trying to help. Money can rebuild a home. Food can stop hunger. Medicine can make the ill well. There are plenty of things that we can do to make life better for someone else. Now is the time to remember those that need our help the most. It is the time after all the big pushes for charity and the time that people have done their "Christmas charity bit." They won’t think again about others until the next natural disaster. Hunger, homelessness, and illness won’t go away just because Christmas is over. The need to help others is always 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.

On of the simplest things we can do is really listen when someone needs to talk. It this day of emails and blogs and information overload sometimes people forget how to communicate. There are people hurting that it would help if they could just talk to someone. I do that for my mother. Mother wants to talk about Dad sometimes. She doesn’t want people to tip toe around not talking about Dad because they are afraid it will hurt her. She needs someone to listen. It something that all of us can do. Listen.