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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

I've made a huge mistake this morning

I watched a movie which always "gets" me--"Pay it Forward". The little boy initiates the concept of doing favors for folks and then asking in return that the recipients do favors for three other people and so on. His teacher describes it as "utopian", but I call it God's Plan. "...for when I was naked, you gave me clothes; when I was hungry, you fed me; when I was sick, you took me in"....a paraphrase of the text from Matthew, but you get the picture. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
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What gets me in this movie is how this intense child works so hard to "fix" things in peoples lives, and ends up dying of a stab wound at the end. His theory or project of Pay It Forward has gone out all over the country due to a story done by a reporter who heard about it in L.A., and he wouldn't rest until he determined the "source" of this miraculous event. A child? Really? The reporter was just blown away. Sometimes we try to fix things in our lives, using our own tools instead of the ones God gave us, and more often than not, end up getting 'stabbed', too!
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A friend of mine from long ago was talking with me once about the charitable groups she supports and raises money for, etc. She told me not only did it make her "feel good" to be helping people, but it was also good publicity, and, on top of that, a tax write-off. Well, no good deed ever goes unpunished, I've heard. Someone else told me once that a "deed isn't good if anyone else knows about it". I like that, really do.
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I woke up tired again this morning, probably because I was so busy at work in my dreams again. Once more I was working in the nursing home back in Manty, playing 'beat the clock' with setting the tables and washing the dishes, trying to remember whose turn it was to load the dish washing machine, take off or clear tables. We rotated every month. I've been out of there for 20 years now and still can't remember whose turn it is! At one point in my dream I left my position to run outside and greet Martie's sister, June, who was coming across the lawn with my sister, Lori, and her hubby, David!!! And the fireman were outside on the street collecting money for Jerry's Kids............Joseph, where are you when I need a dream interpreted????? For years and years, I've had this dream of being back at work at Shady Lane, struggling to get the trays upstairs under the most trying of circumstances, as though everyone is doing what they can to prevent my getting the people fed up there.........hidden frustration? Someone elses' fault???
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After one of these nights of frustrating dreaming, I told my then husband that I was so tired yet in the morning. He said, "Of course you are! You were up all night working!"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That reminds me of a story of a check I was supposed to use for myself and not my children. I did use some of it but then I had the chance to help someone else with what was left of the money. It really made me feel good that I could help someone in return for someone helping me.

Anonymous said...

Kim, I love "Pay It Forward!" We use it with our inmates, of course! It's a foreign concept to them, but they enjoy the movie. It also reinforces the Golden Rule that I try to teach them to live by, even with no religious strings attached. While it has Biblical meaning to me, I believe in its wisdom, of course, and so I teach it to them as a philosophy of life contrary to what they've always known. (I do also share that it belongs with my religious beliefs and my faith.)

I'm sorry I can't help with the dream thing. That's not something I'm so good at. I have always learned that dreams are symbolic and not to be taken literally, so stop and think to yourself what the things and the people in your dreams symbolize to you personally, as well as that time in your life of working there.

Talk to you later!

Kim Lahaie Day said...

Hi Jill,

The only thing wrong with that scenario you mentioned was the fact of the "donor" putting a limit on what you could use the money for. Meaning, it should have had no instructions, see? But, I rejoice that some good came from it and you were able to help another when before, you couldn't have!

Love,

Kim

Kim Lahaie Day said...

Hi Jami!

It does not surprise me that you can use this movie in the prison. In fact, one of the "users" of the format was a prison inmate, who let a girl with asthma go before him in the ER. I love this movie, love it, but of course, it is awful at the end when the little boy dies right before his mother's eyes.....wow, too real! Love the great outpouring which took place after he died, the gathering in front of his house. Showed the mom that his work was not in vain!!! It would be difficult to share this story without infusing religion into it, but you probably can because you are a professional and know how to do it subtely. (There is no spell check on the Comments page!!!)

I simply have to laugh to myself about the re-occurring dream at the old folks' home. I have never dreamed about other places I've worked, except once when I dreamed I was back at Sprint, trying to handle phone calls without my headset! An operator's worst nightmare! In more ways than one!

Hugs,

Kim

Peter Prange said...

I often have dreams about working at Carrabba's waiting tables. I call them nightmares because it always feels like a Friday or Saturday night when we are really busy and everyone is upset and wanting things, and there just isn't enough time or enough hands to get it all done. I wake up with a really fast heartbeat! My brother tells me that he dreams the exact same thing! I wonder if this happens to all waiters? I'm glad that part of my life is over!

Tarren =)

Kim Lahaie Day said...

Good morning, Tarren!

Now, I can be Joseph........perhaps in your dreams, it looks like Carrabba's but it's really your household with all its responsibilities and such. Just a thought....or did you have this dream before you were a mommy? I've had this type of dream since I quit there in 1986 and in 1987 Justin was born! Plus I worked for our building company, bouncing a baby on my knee and juggling paperwork and contractors.......Calgon, take me away!

Love,

Kim

p.s. I am soooooo happy Robbie is coming up there!