Human Nature

It seems that over the past couple of weeks or so some one in our house has been sick.  I have visited more doctors offices over the past couple of weeks than I would have ever wanted to.  Throughout the craziness I remain thankful for medicine, for caring physicians, and for our good health. We live in a society that, for the most part, tends to be nurturing.  We see some one we love in need and we want nothing more than to help them.  Humans have a need to take care of each other.  Maybe you read that last sentence and are asking why I used the term "humans" instead of "people."  Well, fellow human, I'm glad you asked.

We have been watching a show called The Neighbors.  When we started the first episode I wasn't really sure what to expect or if I would even enjoy it.  We laughed throughout the entire episode and watched a couple more after that one; enjoying each one. The story is an interesting and fun one--a group of aliens who wish to learn more about earth purchase all the homes in a small housing addition and move in.  Eventually one of the houses becomes vacant and humans move in. So, you have this entire housing addition of aliens with one human family.  The humans try to teach the aliens how to be more human-like.  There was one episode entitled, "Cold War," in which the youngest human (a 6-year-old girl) gets a cold.  The leader of the aliens wants to quarantine the child to prevent others from becoming ill, but the humans explain that this isn't how things are done on earth and that we take care of each other.  The alien leader's wife watches the human mom take care of her child and longs to take care of others.  The human child eventually sneezes on her mother which leads to the entire family becoming ill.  The alien wife sneaks in to help the humans and eventually falls ill herself.  The other aliens come to care for those who have fallen ill. This prompts the alien leader to also join in and care for those who are ill.  The show is funny but it does a great job of illustrating human behavior.

I could easily relate to this episode.  As a mother you care for your sick children.  There was one day that Kaitlyn sneezed right in my face.  Living with children is like a germ war zone.  They are little germ factories and you spend your time desperately encouraging hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and trying to keep them from getting sick or spreading their germs to others in the household. Sometimes we are successful; other times we fail and the virus spreads like wildfire through the house.  Humans care about each other and we most definitely care about our children.  As a mother I do not take care of my child from a distance wearing gloves and a mask, fearing that I will get sick.  That never crosses my mind.  I simply want my child to feel better.  I will use germ-x like no one's business, spray the house down with Lysol, and up my Vitamin C intake, but my goal is to make sure my child is comfortable and feels better.  Should their illness spread to me, well, then I'll deal with that if and when it happens.  That is when Jacob steps in and helps with the kids and helps take care of me, and I him. We make a great team, my family and me.  And, although we could probably learn a lot from these TV aliens and prevent sickness by quarantining those who are ill, humans just aren't created that way. We want to help.  We want to love.  We want to nurture.  While no one wishes to be ill, I believe that caring for each other is what we are meant to do.

"I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit." -- Matthew 25:36