Letter to the Editor: November 27, 2013

 

To the Editor:
Last Sunday, while sitting in the pew at church, I looked around and couldn’t help but notice that all those wonderful elders with their white hair were now the parents of my generation, many of them still sitting in the same area they sat in when I was young. I knew them by name. They knew me by name. They did not fail to greet me and ask about my children in Zambia. They are filled with pride by the work I do and the idea that “one of their own” is doing such work.
As I sat thinking, it struck me that this is community. Some go out – always taking a part of them with you – and some stay home, taking their spot in the pew as they mature.
I asked myself how can I get that for my children in Zambia? I want them to know they are a part of their community and their community is a part of them. Who will be the white hairs in their life? Who will watch them wade through life with love? Who will stand firm in support of them, sharing their pride in just knowing them and who will remain steadfast as models of servitude, faithfulness and integrity?
I am so blessed to have been raised in Maple Lake and to continue to be part of this community. Here, there are marriages that were forged in turbulent times of youth and are still strong thirty-five years later. Here there are elders in their eighties and nineties that still remember their children’s childhood friends. Here there are neighbors that know you by name and help out when a need arises. Here there are generations of people that love you. Here, there are friends from your youth that are friends for life. And finally, here there are pillars – those wonderful, beautiful, white-haired folks in the pews at church. They know you. They love you and they want the best for you just because you are part of their community.
I say to all the “white hairs” here in Maple Lake – Thank you. You are part of me wherever I go, whatever I do.
Carol McBrady
 

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