Taking care

Out of the window to the left of my desk is this neglected house. The roof has been moss covered with a hole the 21-years I have had my nest. The shutters need painting. A curtain is only half hung. It is owned by a Catalan school teacher, who shrinks from people who smile at her. My Catalan neighbours say she has always been like that even when she was young. I can’t imagine being in one of her classes.

Out the window to the right of my desk is the house owned by a Danish film maker. He has renovated the house completely (even the toilet works, no mean feat in France), although he has kept the rustic flavour that it had when occupied by full-time residents. He is not here all the time, although he swears every year he is about to retire then takes on another project. Right now he is in Asia scouting out scenes for his next film.

It seems as if the two houses are an example of what happens when you do or don't take care of

…you fill in the blank.

The US has not taken care of its people nor its financial markets and the financial world has seen disarray the last few days. Bankers in other countries did not take care to check the validity of the junk they bought. Regulation was not important, it destroyed the free market US leaders said, and where there was regulation enforcing it didn’t seem all that important as the government pushed economic theories that have proven invalid.

But taking care is something else. It is taking care of our own property, of not abusing our material things and trying to avoid this throw-away society. We can take care of the planet by thinking about what we consume. At one time a woman who owned a needle was considered wealthy, and she took good care of it. If she was a good woman, she shared it with others, which brings me to the most important item: taking care of people.

A mother can praise a child, a husband can give his wife a hug, a grown child can call a parent. We can bring a casserole to a neighbour just because we know she had a bad day or be polite to those we pass on the street. We can nurture our relationships, both close and casual.

Perhaps the house the Dane has taken care of is partially because it is an investment, but he has made an investment in his smiles when he arrives that does not carry a price tag. But then time spent in taking care of relationships is an investment too...

Take care,