Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, The Liberal, Copyright December 30, 1987
Well readers, I have now finished another year of writing these columns for The Liberal. That’s five years you know! Thank you.
As I sit down to my ‘IDM’ computer it is Dec. 8. (That’s correct, IDM- they just made the B a D and it saved me about $5,000.) It is really two and a half weeks to Christmas, and only eight days until Hanukkah, but I am supposed to pretend that Christmas was last week. So let’s pretend.
Did you all have fun? Did you give and get lots of nice gifts? Did you go to church or synagogue? Did you sing songs, and eat, and drink and visit with family and friends, and play with your kids, and roast chestnuts, and go to lots of parties?
For those of you who answered ‘yes’ to at least a few of these questions, I am glad you had a good time. But for the first time in my five years of writing this chiropractic column with a humorous twist, I am going to turn serious. It is not my job and I have no business doing so, but I am going to anyway.
NO PARTIES, CHILDREN
There are many people around who do not have parties to go to. They don’t have children, or friends, or gifts to give or receive. They are lonely, or sick, or troubled, and this lovely season only compounds their difficulties.
Someone reading this column will be lying in York Central Hospital, alone in their room. They know they will never again get to sit by a fire during the Christmas season. They will never again hear the laughter of children on Christmas morning. They will never toast in the new year with friends. It is a very sad and depressing thought, but a very true one.
Someone else is lying in Sunnybrook Hospital knowing they will never again move their legs or arms. They will never again unwrap a present, decorate a tree, lift a glass, or hug their kids.
Somewhere in Richmond Hill is an elderly lady who can only recall the good times she had with her husband when he was alive. He died Christmas Eve 1986.
TRUE STORIES
These are all true stories. These are all people I know. I am sure everyone reading this column also knows someone who is not all smiles this time of year, and for very good reason.
What is the point of this depressing report on the human condition? Very simple.
Every year at this time I write a ‘funny’ article about how to prevent holiday pains. I then wish everyone happy holidays. The next week I am back to writing about sore backs and elbows and necks.
Don’t get me wrong. I love doing it or I wouldn’t have done it for five years. But I feel that something should be said for the unfortunate people I mentioned.
Where does our sense of compassion for our fellow human being end and our selfishness begin? Have fun on Christmas and at New Years. But there is another way to have fun. If everyone reading this column went to see a person they know who isn’t at their best right now, there would be a whole lot more joy around- for you and the person you visited.
SQUEEZE HAND
I didn’t say to send a gift or card. I did say to call. Go to see them. Squeeze their hand. Tell them that they are loved. No excuses! Why can’t you visit your mother in the nursing home? It’s in Halifax? Who cares? Go anyway.
No money? Who cares? Sell your car. Why can’t you go to see your friend who was injured in that car accident back in high school? Would you feel uncomfortable? Who cares? Go anyway. He might not recognize you? Who cares? Tell him who you are.
I have made a list for the holiday season. It contains eight names of people I plan to visit over the next week or so. I am not a hero. I am just in one of those moods.
By next month I will probably be too busy to visit people, an excuse that a lot of you might be using now.
If anyone thinks they have a valid excuse not to visit their invalid father who lives in Chicago, or their third grade teacher who taught them how to write but now has Parkinson disease, or their brother who is healthy but is just a pain in the ass, call me and I will completely invalidate your excuse with just five words. Who cares? Do it anyway!