R.E.S.P.E.C.T. find out what it means to...

I had the privilige this week of learning more about a wonderful program in Pierce and Kitsap County, the Senior Companion program at Lutheran Community Services NW. This program works with low-income seniors recruiting and training them to volunteer with disabled adults and seniors who need extra help. I wish this program had been available for my mom, both when she was healthy and when she was home-bound.

It is amazing to me that so few people really understand the needs of the older citizens in our community. Earlier today a friend made a comment on Facebook about her trip to the store and meeting some retirees who she realized needed some help. My friend took the time to help and chat with these folks, some in wheelchairs, and commented online how rewarding it was for her. Her comment "I should slow down more often" is a good reminder for all of us to stop and recognize the needs of other around us. I applaud her for taking the time to care about others!

For me interacting with the elderly is about respect first and foremost, but it's also about learning. In the 5th grade I interviewed my grandmother who was raised in the Phillipines. I remember being so amazed that they not only didn't have color television but television hadn't been invented yet! There were so many new inventions that she saw in her lifetime! I wonder what she would think of the progress we have continued to make since she passed away in 1991....

So what does respect mean to you? What does it mean to the older people in your family? And how can you show respect to others, especially the elderly in your community? I am grateful to the people who helped my grandmother when she fell in downtown Tacoma many years ago and broke her ankle. The people who stopped and helped her were very kind and respectful to her.

What are things that you can do to be kind and respectful? Is it a smile for an older person when you see them on the street? Maybe it's taking flowers to a nursing home on Mother's Day and asking that they be given to a woman whose family doesn't visit her. Perhaps it's stopping to chat with the older gentleman you see sitting in the park each day you go for a walk.

The gestures don't have to be big, they have to be sincere. And of course a matter of respect....

Historic or just old?

I recently heard about a old tug that will be destroyed unless someone wants to take it off the owners hands and restore it. Now you may think, "what's so special about an old tug and why does Wendy care?".

The tug, built by the Skansie Brothers in Gig Harbor, is a 26 foot, cedar vessel. It was built around 1926, the year my grandparents married, thus why it caught my attention. Looking at the pictures of the Greta people might think "just let them dismantle her", but what of her history? Just think of what stories this ship could tell from the last 83 years on the water....

I admit I don't know more than what I've written at this point, but I'm sure this maritime vessel has something left to give. It may take her being restored as the Virginia V and Adventuress have been, and making the Greta seaworthy again. Perhaps it's a better fit for a museum ala the Shenandoah a ship also built by Skansie around the same time, now housed at the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor.

It would be a shame to have the Greta destroyed while so many of us are working to find ways to save historic maritime vessels. Earlier this year I worked with a group who have introduced a bill for the 2010 Washington State Legistlative session, House Bill #2379 and Senate Bill #6185. These bills, if passed, will establish a way to help owners of historic maritime vessels receive the funds they need to restore and preserve their ships. How sad it will be if we loose another historic vessel while trying to find funds to help all local historic ships.

Today we live in a "disposable" world, if something breaks, is used up or damages, the feeling is "I can get a new one". I think we've forgotten that once something is gone, such as wonderful old ships, they are gone forever and we can't get that piece of history back.

My hope is that someone will come forward to save the Greta. It would be a shame to loose a part of our shared heritage.