Reflections while visiting parents in Indianapolis by myself…
This is such a different place. I turn on the television and I see commercials for Trump. Well, they are commercials for other politicians, but their main selling point is that they supported Trump. And their opponents didn’t support Trump. The auto shops have paintings of eagles and flags. Such a different world with different ideas and ideals.
I sit here in church and I look around and I feel that the people here have a sense of community. It is a sense of community I have not felt in years. Perhaps I felt it in Rockford, but I have not felt that sense of community in our ward now, in Crystal Lake.
I wonder who will take care of my wife and my children when I am gone. Who will be the community that steps in to care for them and be there for them. Perhaps it is this fear of the future that has been some of the glue for these social institutions that are dying around me. That care has become transactional instead of relational. We have outsourced our relationships of care for the elderly to the retirement homes, assisted living homes, dementia care homes, and long term care homes. We pay for others to care instead of caring for others ourselves.