Quantity & Quality

In Chinese, the word for ‘busy’ is composed of two characters - ‘heart’ and 'death'.

"When Hob arrived at L'Arche house, he was assigned to be a companion for Leroy, a man with a wheelchair. It was Hob's job to help Leroy with the simple, daily activities of his life. One hot August morning, their household job was to clean out the refrigerator. As Hob told the story, he was crouched on the floor beside Leroy's wheelchair. He handed items from the refrigerator to Leroy, who slowly, laboriously placed each one on the counter. Everything about the task seemed to move in slow motion. At one point Leroy paused to look out the kitchen window. His attention had been caught by a man striding by on his way to work. Clearly the man was in a hurry.

'Hob,' said Leroy in his halting voice, 'they say we're handicapped,' and he tipped his head in the direction of the man passing by outside.

He paused as he reached for his next words. That gave Hob enough time to wonder, a bit nervously, what was coming next.

'But I think they're handicapped,' Leroy continued, referring to the man who had just passed by. Gently he tapped his hand against his chest.

Hob wasn't sure what Leroy meant.

'Oh, you mean, they get heart attacks?' Hob guessed, assuming that Leroy was making reference to hardworking, type-A personalities.

'No,' replied Leroy. He paused again, slowed by his difficulty in forming words. Then came the memorable statement.

'They don't know how to let love in,' said Leroy."

Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle. “Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows. A Couple’s Journey through Alzheimer’s.” Penguin, NY, 2008.