The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #62048   Message #1001168
Posted By: katlaughing
12-Aug-03 - 11:24 PM
Thread Name: BS: Kindness of strangers - lasting effects
Subject: RE: BS: Kindness of strangers - lasting effects
These are great folks, keep them comin'!

I remember when I was a very young mother, working as a nurse's aide. One of my patients was a man who had lost the side of his mouth and jaw to cancer. He didn't have much will to live even though he was not impaired in anyway, except unable to really articulate well. I did my best to understand him and help him as much as possible. His wife was a retired nurse and they were well-off. I guess I must've impressed her because she took me aside one day and offered to put me through nursing school! Caught me completely off-guard as we'd really not talked much, just to say hello, etc. I was being treated badly at home by my then-husband and didn't have much confidence in myself. As I looked back at this over the years I have always been grateful to her for that vote of confidence. It made me brave enough to think outside of an abusive marriage and able to move on. I don't even remember her name.