Lean on Me

I'm glad to say that I got to meet another Facebook friend this past Friday.  I'm going to call her "Jordan" in order to preserve her anonymity. I've been talking with "Jordan" for the past three months or so and several of my other friends have become friends with her as well.  Her marriage ended last year after she accelerated her M to F transition.  She's had some pretty rough times since, and just recently had her home foreclosed upon by the bank. I find this very upsetting because she had several people living with her who weren't giving her anything in return for their room and board.  However, when she lost her home, none of them were around to help her. She also had her beloved car repossessed, so she didn't even have a ride to take her on her one-way ticket to nowhere. 

I'm very happy to say that one of our mutual friends "Angie" (not her real name) was kind enough to go all the way to Oklahoma to pick "Jordan" up and take her to Dallas, where she's now staying in a duplex furnished by the VA.  There were problems along the way, i.e. the VA wouldn't let her into the duplex until she went through mental and physical examinations and got her name changed on her military records.  As such, she had nowhere to stay for several days, so "Angie" paid for her hotel room and food during that time.  Now that's what I call a good friend!

"Jordan" had some health problems earlier in the week and had to be admitted to the VA Hospital, which is where I visited with her on Friday.  It turns out that she's having problems with her heart enzyme levels and the VA is going to give her some medicine for that condition as well as several others.  She ended up getting discharged from the hospital not long after I left and is back in her duplex.  I hope that she can get straightened out and get back into life again. What she truly needs right now is real friends . . . ones with no ulterior motives.  She's been used terribly throughout her life.

The way that's she has come into my life is a strong sign that I need to be there to help her in any way possible. This goes the same for all of my friends . . . lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend.  That's the true meaning of a friend.   Here's a perfect song for this blog:

The day that I started writing this blog was the 15th anniversary of Princess Diana of Wales' tragic death.  I'll never forget the day that she died.  She was such a sweet and giving woman!  As I was writing this blog, a very fitting picture popped up on Facebook:

Amen, Princess Diana!

This said so much about how I feel about helping others!  This picture was definitely a sign to continue down my present path.

09/15/2015 Update

The past few years have reinforced the fact that while it truly is a wonderful thing to help others, this needs to be done with some boundaries.  First, the people that one is helping need to want to help themselves.  Helping somebody who won't help themselves is just enabling them. It is also important to set limits on the amount of help given.  Not setting limits is a good way to get used and abused. Lastly, one needs to watch out for entitlement issues.  Anybody who thinks that the world owes them a living needs to be left in the dust!