Two viewpoints

Your viewpoint is very well presented in this article. It reminded me of an incident that happened to me a couple of years ago. I took care of my elderly mother. This required 24 hour supervision, so I rarely left the house unless it was to do the monthly shopping.

One day, I found that the Department of Human Services had come calling. The neighbor, a good "Christian," stopped by while I was away and found the house "low on food." She called and reported that my mother was in danger. She wanted her taken away from me and placed in state care, as well as wanting me locked up for elder abuse. The ironic thing about it was that I was in town shopping for our monthly food storage. I cook food from scratch, and even learned how to milk a goat so that she would have fresh goat's milk. We were on a very healthy diet, consisting of mostly un-processed food. Since the neighbor did not see cans and packages of processed food, she assumed my mother was starving and reported the situation.

Now to my point. When the neighbor came over and perceived what she thought was an intolerable situation, instead of trying to help by contacting me and offering assistance, she called the county and tried to have me convicted of elder endangerment. This tactic did not work because when my mother was examined, she was in the best health she had been in for most of her life.

There are two ways to look at things. We can see something and immediately become an alarmist spouting danger, danger, without knowing the full truth, or we can take a look at the situation with eyes of compassion, seeking the truth and ways we can be of assistance.

by Barbara Peterson (46 articles, 80 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 416 comments) on Monday, December 24, 2007 at 11:45:46 AM