The Visceral Bond Of Joy And Comfort We Experience When We Make A Connection
The Teddy Bear Parade in Oregon City is an event you should put on your calendar for next year. In fact, this should be an event if you live near Oregon City that should be on your calendar every year. And if you don’t live near Oregon City it is worth considering putting on a Teddy Bear Parade in your own town. May this year was a rainy year for the parade. But that did not discourage the many determined folks who showed up for the parade and for the participants and horses in the march.
What we all know to be a nearly avoidable (especially in the rain) activity, it is also one of the events that children can’t miss when they get a chance. Despite the rain, it was so heartwarming to see kids lined up with their contribution to the Teddy Bear collection, prepared with bears sealed in plastic bags knowing that they are giving to a greater cause: Comfort to kids in the Hospital who need to be included in the thoughts and prayers of everyone. Now perhaps the reward of candy being thrown at them from the Lions and others is an ulterior motive, but in essence the bond between kids and the paradors is the most palpable of the experience.
Isn’t this true with all of our service projects? There is a palpable visceral bond of joy and comfort we experience when we make a connection with those in the community that perhaps have a need that we Lions are trying to meet. In the Food Banks, in the vision screenings, in the delivery of medical devices, in the Spam and Eggs or Thanksgiving food boxes; each time we act to create community these bonds strengthen our own identities as being a part of someone else’s identity.
When we doubt that this strength and identity is just too small to be important I promise you that the day you enter into an office of a Governor or legislator or company CEO and see the little American Flag perched on the desk or shelf, you will remember your Lion identity back to when you gave a flag to a first grader who remembered their identity affirmation in just a short moment with a small gift.