I work at a Care Center where most of the people are elderly. About a year and a half ago a 59-year-old lady came to us who had cancer. She had to have her right leg amputated and she didn't have a family to take care of her after the operation. This lady was a quiet lady who mostly stayed alone. But in the afternoons, when she was feeling well, she would go to visit the other people in the Care Center. She would visit a lady who was blind and read to her. She would go into the room of a young girl with severe cerebral palsy and sing to her. In her quiet and gentle way, she would go about the Care Center doing goods. She passed away last Wednesday and after her passing, stories are coming forward of her quiet acts of kindness in her own hour of sorrow. We never know what  _ we have upon others. She had every reason to be bitter, to be angry, or to be swallowed up in her own grief. But she wasn't. She didn't have a family and probably felt forgotten, but her small and quiet acts of service made an impact upon the entire Care Center. Each of us feels better than before for having known her. We have pledged to be more aware of the service that we can offer to others. Why did the old lady live in the Care Center?
Because she wanted to prove her importance. Because she felt very lonely at home. Because she was suffering a very serious illness. Because she was invited by many patients there.