So if you read my Facebook post you know that I had a really full week, and that one of the things that I did was a funeral in North Jackson. As it happened this cemetery doesn’t appear to have an address. I actually spent time Friday making sure I knew where I was going. The address the GPS gave me, which I didn’t know at the time, was the city administration office. It’s Saturday afternoon, no one is around, would the person at the gas station have a clue.
I was lost and had no reference point to fix it. No one who could navigate for me.
What was most surprising to me was the sheer helplessness and panic I felt. I am a planner, and most of the time I am fairly ready for what life brings. But in this case I was stunned by not having the information I needed at my fingertips. Technology. I have a complicated relationship with it anyway, but it has never failed me so profoundly.
It was a person who got me through it. A person who kept me calm. At one point I said to the 911 dispatcher, I know this isn’t a true emergency but it is for me. And she said not to worry. She never implied I was anything but important. She was an example to me of how to treat people with respect.
So what did I learn? First, that we have to be so careful not to assume that all knowledge is available to us. We cannot know everything. When we start thinking that our phone has all the answers, we swerve toward idolatry. Second, I remembered that asking for help is OK. My emergency wasn’t life threatening and it took me too long to consider myself worthy of assistance. I had to swallow my pride to be able to receive what I needed.
Finally, I realize that I have to offer that humility to another person. We all know that doesn’t always work out. But we need community, we can help each other, we are connected in a mutual web of shared need. We don’t always need help. Sometimes we offer it. But we always need each other, and that is a gift not a burden.
The people at the funeral were very kind. Some of them had also experienced difficulty finding the place. We managed to have a lovely service. It would not have happened without that dispatcher though. And I am grateful for that.