Letters - 29 April 2016

From kindness to Europe

Be kind

Thank you Jill Allum for your article ‘Be kind’ (8 April). Sadly, I relate very much to all you said.

I wonder, could it be that over the years Friends have become very good at ‘saving the world’ because it’s about fixing things?

But, there are some things that can’t be fixed. That’s hard and all one can do then is stand alongside and listen, hold a hand and be kind. Friends who do this are special, they bring comfort and affirming love.

I had just such a friend once, sadly no longer alive, who gave me the gift of being able to contact her day or night. Nights can be especially hard. I only had to phone her once at night, but just knowing she would be there helped me cope when the darkness all but overwhelmed me.

Dear God, help me to be kind, as she was.

Valerie Whitby

I really appreciated Jill Allum’s recent article. I have relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a condition from which I will never ‘get well soon’.

A few years ago a Friend asked me to drop a leaflet from Meeting through his door – he lives a couple of hundred yards from me – and I had to say that at that time it was unlikely I could walk that far. A few days later he delivered me a card, which read: ‘I know that you will never be fully well, but I hope that you regain some mobility soon.’

I was really touched by his sensitivity and awareness of what was realistic in my circumstances. His own health difficulties are very different to mine. They are also of a sort that mean he is unlikely to ever be fully well, but he definitely has better spells. As Plato put it: ‘…everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’

Stephanie Grant

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