Who cares

I care.

My Nan told me a story once, that in one of her lowest moments when she felt so alone, her husband was dying, she had three young children and being in the 1960s the world was very different. She cried, she asked - who cares about me?

She told me that she saw a light and heard a voice that simply said - I care.

I'm not sure that this story holds any profound meaning in the big scheme of things, but she told me this story more than 50 years after it happened. It meant something to hear, it meant something that someone cared. Whoever or wherever that voice came from.

Last year I came across an article telling a story about how not just one, but many people didn't care. You can go read it here.

I've read that article a few times. It's bookmarked in fact. I've been thinking a lot about the future, not just in a mid-life crisis sort of way but in a fundamental 'things are changing' sort of way. AI, technology, Trump, take your pick on the reason - it's undeniable that the world is fundamentally changing.

Putting aside the fairness or unfairness of those changes for a moment. There's some words that keep coming to the top of my mind, important words that I think I want to hold onto. Words that I want to keep with me for every day. 

Words that make you stop and take a moment. When you get that sense of something important, being seen and understood.

I think care is one of those words.

Taking a moment to stop on the street, to check if someone is OK when they might be in distress.

Making sure that a person at work gets seen, gets the opportunity that they might not be able to fight for themselves.

Looking out for the quiet kid at a party, helping them get involved and not missing out on a piece of cake.

Really listening to someone when they are telling you about their day and dare to reveal something important.

I think there are many ways to care. The people in that blog post didn't. And increasingly it feels like people are caring less. I'm not sure if they are afraid, I'm not sure if they genuinely don't care or have any sympathy or compassion for anyone else. Maybe they are desperate. Or perhaps it's the lack of consequences (of course, until it happens to you...)

I want to care. I think I do. I know I've made a difference to all sorts of people over the years, specifically because I did care. Maybe when no one else did. 

Maybe you did too reader, without even knowing it. Maybe someone cared for you and they didn't know it either.

Wouldn't it be such a better world, if we cared just a little bit more?