JUST SHOW UP
The basic of all basics in support of mental health challenges is to show up. Just show up.
The opposite is to plan to call, or plan to drop by, or to send some food when you cook: in which case both of you stew, the promiser who can’t deliver and the promised who waits in expectation. Nothing beats the actual presence of a supportive human being when help is needed; who arrives without prejudice, without guile, without a mouthful of advice to administer. Just to be there, to show up in a timely fashion is the best of all medicine.
Listen to MJ as a child: You and I must make a pact; We will bring salvation back; Just call my name and I’ll be there.
When we show up we are saying we are the possible, we are the miracle, we make things happen. Showing up is the eternal wonder of this world we have created for thousands of years; when people show up the loaves multiply.
This is the fine art of the possible: even if you don’t know what to say; or don’t know what to do; not sure what to bring; or can’t even remember the protocol: Just show up; that makes one hell of a difference.
This is the basic ingredient of living as a community. Show up. I’ll be there at your side whenever you need me; through thick and thin; when there is a rainstorm or gruelling heat; Just call my name.
If you don’t show up, it will never exist otherwise through any other medium and the moment will be lost. It is not your business to determine how good it is or effective, how valuable or how it compares with other expressions of support; it is your business to keep the channel open.
The showing up was there in the beginning and it will be there in the end: like a rainbow in the sky.
