DO A GOOD DEED TODAY, NO MATTER HOW SIMPLE.

 

This week my good deed involved a woman  who resides in one of the communities that fall under my purview as a Community Development Officer.  I shall call her Melda Jones. (Her name has been changed to help preserve anonymity.)

Melda is a cleaner at one of the Primary Schools, adjacent to the Community Centre that I visit regularly. Whenever I visited the area, I would see her diligently cleaning the school and she would just greet me with a shy smile and a slight wave of the hand.

One day, however, when I went to the Centre to perform my duties, I saw Melda at the back of the school crying. As we had never really spoken before I was a bit hesitant to approach her. However, when she raised her head, our eyes met, and I saw so much pain in them that I had no choice but to walk towards her.

 

I asked her very softly: ”Is everything ok?” She looked at me very sadly and through the tears started to talk. She was the eldest of five siblings (four sisters and one brother) and at the age of fourteen, her father had died and her mother, who was a seamstress by occupation, was unable to financially support the family.

 

So being the eldest, Melda, who was a Standard Five student at the time, had to terminate her studies to assist her mother in taking care of the family. She recalled that life was so difficult as she had to take odd jobs in the village, for example, washing, ironing and even at times babysitting for the neighbors.

 

She felt like she had sacrificed her life for her siblings, who were all now educated, gainfully employed and residing abroad (USA, England). Melda was the only one in Trinidad, taking care of the needs of her mother.

 

Her mother had recently gotten very ill and the entire family had returned to Trinidad. Of course, for many of us, we know what usually happens when family who are not generally close, have to come together. Life had become very stressful and painful for Melda.

 

I realized, listening to her that she suffered from low self esteem, considering herself as the black sheep of the family- uneducated, unmarried, unloved. She was an introvert and did not have much of a social life; apart from taking care of her mother and going to work, her only other activity was attending the  weekly services in church.

 

Melda spoke about her relationship with the rest of the family, whereby she would be insulted and belittled openly by them, because they considered themselves to be in a much better position, financially and otherwise, that she was.

 

Her mother would always support the other siblings, even though Melda was the one who was always at her side, fulfilling her every need. Melda suspected that her mother was too afraid to oppose the others for fear of losing the financial support that they provided.

 

Even though I am not a trained psychologist, I figured that what Melda wanted at this time was empathy, she wanted reassurance, she wanted someone to listen to her - without judging or condemning her. Which I did. For well over one hour Melda, through her tears, told me about her life.

And I listened.

 

As she had her Bible in her hand, I told her about a passage, that  was mentioned at last Sunday’s sermon.

Matthew 6:26-Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

 

I reminded Melda that she was a child of God, someone to be loved and respected. The circumstances in her life ( financial, social etc) did not matter. It was stated in that passage, that  if our Heavenly  Father would take care of some of his other creations, He would more than certainly take care of her.

I also told her that she was a beautiful person, no matter what her sisters said negatively about her. She should pray for and forgive them. I even, suggested to her that  whenever she felt confident enough, she should, in her usual soft-spoken way, remind them that she had assisted her mother in taking care of them after the death of their father.

She  just smiled at me.

 

I reflected on some of the words of the song "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera:

“I am beautiful
No matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful
In every single way
Yes words can't bring me down
Oh no
So don't you bring me down today”

 

The next day, when I saw Melda, she was waiting for me at the entrance of the Community Centre. She was smiling.

 She reached out to hold my hand and said: “Thanks Mrs. Mahon, thanks for being there for me yesterday. Thanks for listening.”

 

 My good deed for this week was something simple, yet so beautiful. When it was needed, I had listened.

 

  Do a good deed today. No matter how simple.