Agendas

My friend who has a similar disease calculated how much time she spends on her disease--everything from mixing medication to doctor appointments. She found that BEING SICK requires at least thirty hours a week--as much time as a part-time job. She pointed out that the rest of the time she functions at about 60% of normal. (Unfortunately for me, I feel as though I function even lower.) No wonder we get very little done...

Our agendas are sparse. They have to be. We can accomplish only so much in a day. And, our agendas have to include chores associated with being sick. For us, it's a matter of survival. Both of us have shared how we lament the loss of our old agendas--completing chores off a never-ending to-do list and not being hindered by illness.

Tiffany Christensen wrote a book called Sick Girl Speaks: Lessons and Ponderings Along the Road to Acceptance. She shared a letter she sent to her to her doctor after she overheard him talking about her in the hallway of the clinic. She was dying of chronic rejection after a lung transplant when she wrote: "I'm sorry that I've made your work day a little harder, a little longer. I'm trying to live with terminal illness and you're trying to get to lunch. Our agendas are so different."

How many people rush through their day, complaining much of the time, never once considering how one's own agenda may affect another? Do we leave enough room on our agendas for slowing down to help a fellow human?

Do we leave enough room on our agendas for being kind?