Reflection #7

“Being Wanted”

Some statistics say that as many as  60% of nursing home residents have no regular visitor. Together we are doing something about it, in our own small way.

Mother Teresa of India saw thousands of people afflicted with all kinds of diseases in her lifetime. But read below what she describes as the “worst disease” of all:

“I have come more and more to realize that being unwanted is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience. Nowadays we have found medicine for leprosy and lepers can be cured. There’s medicine for TB and consumptives can be cured. But for being unwanted, except there are willing hands to serve and there’s a loving heart to love, I don’t think this terrible disease can be cured.”

– Mother Teresa

Some residents of the nursing home are lucky enough to have families that visit them and care about them. But there will always be the unwanted ones, whose families have forgotten them. If you are visiting such a person, know that your visits mean everything to them. You are the “willing hands” and “loving heart” that Mother Teresa spoke about. You restore their hope and dignity. You are their friend.