Location: Misericordia Housing
Date: Monday, October 27, 2014; 6:15-8:15 pm
“The noblest art is that of making others happy”
- P.T. Barnum
According to their website, “Misericordia offers a community of care
that maximizes potential for persons with mild to profound developmental
disabilities, many of whom are also physically challenged. By serving society’s most vulnerable
citizens, Misericordia also serves the families who want the best for them, yet
cannot provide it at home”. Chicago
Cares has a project called ‘Stitch &
Serve At Misericordia’, which as the title suggests requires volunteers to
participate in a stitching activity with the residents. I of course have no talent for that and so
had never attended. Browsing through the
calendar, I saw that there was a special event this evening where they required
volunteers to accompany the residents to a concert. That was enough for me and I signed up
immediately. It was a long train ride
and a 1 mile walk to the campus, but I arrived with some time to spare.
I went inside to see that several residents had already
assembled in the lobby, which had been decorated for ‘Halloween’. I checked in
with our Volunteer Leader Ashlee, just as many residents approached me to shake
my hand and ask my name. One of the
residents introduced herself as Jacquie and started asking me questions like, “Where are you from? Where do you live?, Do you like to travel,
Where have you been?” I answered all
of these and then asked her if she has had a chance to travel much. She said that she had been to Europe and had
loved visiting Paris. Her effervescent
personality made me like her instantaneously and I was looking forward to the
rest of the evening.
 |
| It wasn't as grand as this, but in some regards, it was better |
It was clear that all the
residents liked Ashlee and she knew everyone there by name. We were joined by 4 other volunteers and they
said that they were students at ‘Loyola’. As we were chatting, a resident came over and
said to Ashley that it was her birthday and so Ashley should wish her. I said that we would do better and so all of
us sang her “Happy Birthday”. We were
going to an adjacent building for the actual concert, with the residents
following right after. Jacquie said that
she was hoping to see some costumes, especially the performers and I said me too. We walked over to the other building and as
soon as we entered, I saw that it was a magnificent facility with fantastic
interiors. But none of that compared to
the grand ballroom where the concert was being staged. It was as good a venue as I have seen
anywhere else. Plus, it was a full 40
piece orchestra. As I walked in, the
conductor asked me for some technical help in setting up the stage and I
pleaded ignorance!
There were several other Loyola
students in attendance as well and everyone’s first task was ushering the
residents, especially people coming in on wheelchairs. We were told to encourage them to sit in the
front and then find chairs for their caregivers. I helped with that and then joined Jacquie, who
had just arrived with some of the other residents from her building. I pulled up a chair next to her and many of
the residents around us asked my name and shook my hand. One lady said that she would take my
autograph after the concert and I said that I had hardly done anything to
deserve that. I chatted with a resident
Leslie, and she mentioned her family which included 2 brothers and a nephew who
was born last week. She talked about
playing the ‘Cello’, though she
hadn't done so recently due to a broken string.
I told her that for next years concert, I wanted to see her on the
stage, amongst the performers. Leslie is a young woman who deserves every opportunity in life like anyone else her age. But that was not going to be the case...not yet.
The concert started with
classical pieces and right of the bat I knew it wasn’t your everyday
performance. Oh, the musicians were
excellent, but rather than the stuffy atmosphere that one associates with a
recital, this was a livelier occasion.
In fact, the conductor was encouraging the audience to clap and cheer at
will. I was doing the same with Jacquie and
she was enthusiastic about it. But it was nothing compared to some of the other people who were dressed in costumes, like “Phantom of the Opera”, “Snow White”, “Harry
Potter” and another with a blonde wig.
And it wasn’t just the residents, some of the performers were dressed in
costumes as well. As all of the
residents participated through their applause, I noticed that Leslie was
mouthing the words to the songs.
An upbeat number came on and “Snow White” went over to the dance
floor, followed by the “Phantom”; and
then the floodgates opened, with many residents going over to the floor. In fact, many of them asked the volunteers to
join them. It truly was incredible to
see the guys ask some of the young females to dance with them without any inhibition
or fear of rejection. Ashlee in
particular was extremely popular. The
concert continued with some of the popular numbers like “Let It Be” by ‘The Beatles’
and I joined one of the residents in singing it. The finale was a ‘Michael Jackson’ medley and everyone was
now on the dance floor. Jacquie said to me
that she wanted to dance and so I escorted her to the floor, where another
resident took my hand and we danced for some time. The concert was at an end and everyone – the residents,
caregivers, volunteers and musicians – had thoroughly enjoyed this
evening. As the residents left, Jacquie asked if I would come back and I said that I definitely would.
There is photograph that I keep
on my computer desktop, something I look at often. Some time ago I participated in a ‘Scavenger Hunt’ alongside a
friend. Prior to the start the
organizers paired us with 10 other people to form a team that would crisscross
the neighborhood, solving clues and participating in activities. Now, these folks were all strangers to us and
quite honestly, my friend and I were wondering if we would have been better off
by ourselves. But we were a team and
bound together for the next few hours. We
arrived at ‘Oz Park’, which has been
named so after the immortal ‘Wizard Of
Oz’. The park has statues of the
characters from the story and one of our tasks was to locate the statue of ‘Dorothy & Toto’ and then take a
photograph in front of it, with the entire team linking arms and one foot up in
the air as if we were skipping…just as she had done with her friends. So we found a passerby and lined up to take
the picture. Our team was soundly beaten
that day, finishing in the bottom half.
But the best thing to have come out of that is this photograph. For it shows a single instance of time where
all of us have our arms linked together, a foot in the air and a broad smile on
our face. I don’t suppose I will ever
see any of those people again, but if I could bottle that single moment and
carry that feeling with me, I would. For in that fraction of a second, all of us
were happy. For that one microcosm of my
life, there was no other thought, no other worry. When people talk about happiness, I suppose this
is what they mean. I have not felt that
again, nor had I seen it…not till this evening.
That expression on all of our faces was exactly what I saw on the faces
of the residents as they took to the dance floor. They have had a rough life…and it may not
change. But for that moment, they looked
happy…really happy. We stacked the
chairs in the hall and I went over to the conductor and thanked her for what
she and her team had done. If the
noblest art is making people happy, then she had surpassed it. It was the most humbling and real experience
of my life.
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
– Scott Hamilton
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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