Alone in an Empty Room

A knock. "I have your dinner tray here." A slow glance up, I'm unrecognized, for a good reason too. This man has never seen me before. But there I stand holding his food, made by people he doesn't know. His hearing aids are visible, I know I'll have to speak louder. "I have your dinner tray here." "Oh, good." I move his few visible belongs to the side of his tray to make way for his tray. "Do you want me to move it over for you?" "What?" I try again, louder, slower, "Do you want me to push this across so you can reach it?" "What? . . . Yes, yes that would be good." I slowly push his tray over his lap so he can reach his food. "Do you need any help opening anything?" "I think I can do it." "Okay." And with that I leave as if I was never there. I continue passing out the trays to other rooms.

As I walk by his room once more he notices me and calls out "Sir!" I leave the path towards the cart, towards the rest of my night, and heads towards his room. He slowly glances up at me, "I need . . . I need", the next couple of words are hushed and almost laughed out "I need to pee." "Okay" I respond, "I'll just push this button to let them know." Them being the nurses. However, his nurse was right next door already helping a patient. I tell him I'll go find someone to help him, "I can't wait too long."

The sense of urgency is building, here is a man who cannot use the restroom by himself, he can't just casually get up and walk into the restroom. Here we all are now, taking our lives, our mobility for granted. We don't think about not being able to do things on our own until it hits us.

I started my quest for a nurse that could help this man. The halls reminded me of high school and walking the halls while class was in session. They were empty, quite, and bleak. I saw one nurse, on the phone. Another, she looked free, I told her the situation and she replied, "Okay, we'll take care of it." Good I thought, he's going to get the help he needs. A few minutes later, I saw the same nurse coming out of the kitchen, pudding in hand. Her path was not one leading to the waiting man. Her path took her on a one-way flight to the break room.

Right then I was appalled. Here it is your job to help people, to comfort them in their sickness. But instead you decide to snack on your sugar free chocolate pudding. That is the last time I will go to that person for any kind of help or favor. Just moments later I hear the man's voice call for help again. I finish my last few trays and decide to head by his room to make sure everything is okay.

What I see is horrible, an event that could have been prevented if one person cared enough to let their pudding wait for them. There was blood on the floor and covering the man's gown. There were now two nurses in there wiping up the blood and making sure he was okay. The IV in his arm was ripped out as he tried to make it to the restroom on his own.

When somebody gives you urgent news or an urgent request, take it seriously, they have a reason for it. And remember to cherish what previous generations have done for us. I think about what they had to go through growing up. The Great Depression, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Recessions, Gulf Wars. Their struggles have been constant, they grew up in a unfriendly era, they made due with what they had. We need to remember that and thank them for that.

We have it easy, only now are we starting to feel a small portion of what they dealt with.