I had gone to the local supermarket to get some vegetables. There was a lady near the potato bin and she was talking very loudly - almost desperately, I thought - to someone across the isle. She was talking in the local language and while I can understand a few words, I couldn't get all that she was saying. Kept hearing the word cancer - I don't know if she was saying she was diagnosed with cancer, or someone in her immediate family was diagnosed with this dreaded illness. She was selecting the potatoes, putting them in her bag and then taking them out again and repeating the process. When I got to the bin, she moved away and went to the counter with her bag while I took what I needed. As I went to the counter, she was talking to the man at the counter from her place in the queue. Again, I kept hearing the word cancer...He wasn't paying too much attention as there was a long impatient line of people he had to deal with. This lady broke out of the queue, and went back to the vegetable section, talking all the while....By this time I could distinctly feel the fear in her - this lady was terribly, terribly afraid. For one brief moment our eyes met and I saw the pain, the un-understanding of what was happening, the inability to accept this diagnosis (whether for herself or for the loved one), the fear of the unknown....what would happen? how would she cope? where could she turn for help?
I moved on, but her voice and her eyes stayed with me.....I know I should have done something. I couldn't have spoken with her because I didn't know the language well enough to do so. But there are other ways of communicating. Maybe I should have held her hand....? Since I came back yesterday, last night at my prayers and this morning, and even as I write this, my thoughts, energies and prayers go out to her. I hope and pray she turns to the Only Source from whom she will be able to draw comfort and strength.
What a terrible thing is fear.......especially if one has to bear it alone. Thing is we have to believe we are not alone. A beloved daughter/son, a loving parent, a close friend can help, but for that deep feeling of peace and to be able to bear and deal with that dreadful loneliness, there is only one Person - Our Father....A loving God. I know skeptics, and non-believers will scoff.....but we have to deal with deep fear at one time or other in our lives...maybe many times...and how do we do that....? For we cannot bear it alone.....
Next time, I've promised myself that I will do something.....just so someone feels they are not alone....