My Dad had been in hospital for twenty-two days in 2014 and during that dark time he was gravely ill with sepsis. I thought I would lose him during that particular time and I was not ready . This was one of many hospital stays that my father had during the last two years of his life. I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the care and commitment of the doctors and nurses who cared for him. It was during that particular hospital stay that I saw this sign on the hospital wall. It read :
The Essence of Compassion …
Resolve to be tender with the young,
Compassionate with the aged,
Sympathetic with the striving,
And tolerant with the weak and the wrong,
Because sometime in your life,
You will have been all of these .
( by George Washington Carver)
This was perhaps my Dad’s final lesson to me.