Independence Day is soon upon us. There will be fireworks that light up the night sky as we celebrate the many freedoms we are blessed with here in America that so many others across the globe are denied.
And yet, on the very same day that we will be celebrating our independence, I will be spending time with a number of people who have seen themselves become more and more dependent on others for their most basic of needs. Some of them are dependent on a dialysis machine to do some of the work that their kidneys used to do. Some are dependent on oxygen to ensure they get enough air to breathe. Some are dependent on others to change them, feed them, clean them and get them up into a chair. The truth is, we are all more dependent on others than we would like to believe.
And sometimes, even a temporary loss of some of our independence reminds us of that very fact. Take, for instance, one beautiful young woman who recently felt what it was like to lose a blessing many of us take for granted — the freedom to walk without pain. She suddenly had a lot of pain … it was in her foot, her heel, and it took away some of the joy in her life. Tennis, which she has an incredible passion for, became almost impossible to participate in. Dancing, which she has a knack for, became another activity she had to stop. And, as the pain got worse, she wound up in one of those special boots to take all the pressure off a specific area of her foot. On top of that, she needed crutches for a while. (Yes, I do have a bit of a ‘crutch’ on her)
So how do we help someone who is dealing with such a loss of independence, even though that loss may only be temporary? Well, in this case, I decided to use humor, albeit sick humor, humor that had her groaning and probably shaking her head, but humor that helped ease her burden. She was stuck in the house and spending a lot of time on the computer, so I sent her the following e-mail:
“I just BOOTED up my computer so let me see what I can come up with on the SPUR of the moment…”
“It’s Aboot time, its aboot space about two men in the strangest place…”
“Tell her aboot it…..”
“There’s a hole in the bootom of the sea…”
“Let me tell you all a story ‘boot a man named Jed…”
“One hundred bootles of beer on the wall, one hundred bootles of beer, take one down and pass it around, ninety-nine bootles of beer on the wall. (If you think I’m going to type out the whole song then you are more than a little bit wobbly)…”
“I’ve looked at life from boot sides now…”
“Wasn’t Abe Lincoln killed by a boot? John Wilkes Boot…”
“What do you call it when you kick a guy in the ear? A bootinear!”
“Everybody loves some booty sometime…”
“Booterflies are free and so are we…”
“Have you seen the greatest movie of all time? Mutiny on the Booty…”
“If you put your cell phone down on your foot, does that make you a phone boot?”
“Shake, shake, shake your booty…”
“If you come over to see me, are you making a booty call?”
“Oh what a bootiful morning, oh what a bootiful day … I got a bootiful feeling, everything’s going my way …”
“Have you heard the good news? If not, be sure and read the Good Boot…”
I hope some of you reading this will be able to come up with better ones to cheer up someone you know who is going through a loss of independence. In the meantime, hope you have a bootiful day…
Shalom My Friends,
Rabbi Craig H. Ezring
Rabbi Ezring is a Hospice Chaplain and Member of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains. He also provides Professional Pastoral Care Services to a number of health centers in Broward County.
