Napa
CA
My spiritual director reminded me that my
vulnerability will only grow as the disease progresses. She expressed the hope that the Eighth Day
community could not only see the vulnerability but also see the richness and
opportunity in it. It’s not exactly the biblical aphorism (“He who
loses his life for my sake will find it”) since the Alzheimer’s is a natural
phenomenon that I did not decide upon.
But I am deciding to show my
vulnerability and that is a conscious
decision. In freely sharing my
diagnosis, I am acknowledging it and baring my vulnerability before I would actually have to. If that turns into a positive experience for
the community, we may be able to learn something about the sharing of our inner
realities.
Acknowledging one’s own and others’ vulnerability is itself
essential to community. Claims of human
invulnerability are always lies that damage the possibility of truly human
relationship. The hope is not only that the
importance of vulnerability will become clearer as the disease progresses but
also that we could begin to share that gift with one another. For that I would be very grateful.
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