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Senior Moments

Category: Relationships / Topics: Wellness

Networking

by Dan Seagren

Posted: September 6, 2009

Dan reflects on the need for others in the time of need…and how wide and rapid can be the response today…

After a battery of tests, surgery followed. A visit to an oncologist soon will determine further treatment. I am recovering and this is my first serious return to the computer.

I marveled at how far and wide the word spread with cards, calls and emails from near and far, from Maine to California, Texas to Minnesota. Talk about networking as most of this was word of mouth, not a concerted effort on my behalf. With time to brood, I couldn't help but think of the importance of networking in our lives.

I thought of indigents who barely eek out a living with no friends or family. I thought of lonely families with neighbors who live pretty much to themselves. I thought of those incarcerated who emerge into an unfriendly world only to find their way back because there was no networking.

We are not meant to live as hermits, shunning friendship, family and friends. We are social creatures (pardon the expression) meant to be in harmony with family, friends, neighbors and social groups of various kinds.

When I worked at a retirement center, we had a rule that when a resident retired, he/she/they slipped a card under the door. If missing, a security check was made. Upon rising, the card was withdrawn.

How often even those with a good network can suffer a fall, a stroke or heart attack and are not discovered for some time. During my convalescence I had a dream that I came upon a mother and her newborn lying helpless on the sidewalk. It was late at night and I stopped to help but did not have my cell phone with me. I snuggled the little one best I could to keep it warm while encouraging the mother not to give up. Talk about helpless as there was no house in sight, no traffic, no one heard my yelling for help.

Mercifully I awakened.

How we need each other. If you do not have a network of people, family, friends, neighbors, or others surrounding you, or means of alerting someone, do give it some serious thought. We need each other more than we realize at times. Networking is not only a dimension of the workaday world, it is an essential aspect of daily living. Without a networking net, a senior moment may not be far away.



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Dan Seagren is an active retiree whose writings reflect his life as a Pastor, author of several books, and service as a Chaplain in a Covenant Retirement Community.

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Posted: September 6, 2009   Accessed 119 times

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