{"id":24551,"date":"2023-11-01T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=24551"},"modified":"2023-10-27T14:43:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T21:43:16","slug":"not-the-last-word-the-gift-of-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2023\/11\/01\/not-the-last-word-the-gift-of-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Not the Last Word<\/em>: The gift of time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Has the world always been this dark? We\u2019re constantly hit with news reels and reports, and if it\u2019s not about some egotistical billionaire tycoon deciding to show off by taking a vacation into outer space then it\u2019s the latest stories on how global warming is sweeping the earth with floods and fires, the Israel-Palestine conflict, or how an average working person can\u2019t even afford to rent a basement apartment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Not the Last Word<\/em> is a column appearing in every issue of Nexus<\/em> (photo by Emily Welch\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We seem to listen to the news with so much indifference\u2014I\u2019m reminded of the reference to ostriches sticking their heads in the sand as a way to shield themselves from any problems surrounding them. I don\u2019t know if this is actually true, but the poetic comparison to human behaviour certainly is true. It\u2019s tempting to cover our ears against the madness. The world is an overwhelming and exhausting place, a place where I might not know if I if I can ever make a difference. However, over the years I\u2019ve discovered that making a difference is all about small personal changes, and, most of all, awareness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working at a safe-consumption site, I see individuals every day who have slipped far under society\u2019s radar. We all know them: when we go down Pandora they are the people in the tent cities who everybody tries so hard not to see, the people who live in a seemingly unrealistic world and culture. It\u2019s so easy just to go past, to not waste our own valuable time, and to forget as fast as possible.<\/p>\n

We might wonder how they got there, or say under our breath, \u201cthere but for the grace of God go I.\u201d I\u2019m not a religious person, but it\u2019s a very telling saying. I mean, everyone has their own traumas, their own heartaches and pitfalls. Why is it that some people end up in these places and others walk free?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess asking questions and learning about people as individuals is a good start. When I\u2019m at work I\u2019ve found how much value there is in looking into someone\u2019s eyes and offering my attention to their needs. When these folks go through most of their days being ignored or mocked by the rest of the population, having people who know them and treat them as valuable gives them some strength to carry on.<\/p>\n

It seems like such a small thing, but time truly is the most important gift one can offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has the world always been this dark? We\u2019re constantly hit with news reels and reports, and if it\u2019s not about some egotistical billionaire tycoon deciding to show off by taking a vacation into outer space then it\u2019s the latest stories on how global warming is sweeping the earth with floods and fires, the Israel-Palestine conflict, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-november-1-2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24552,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24551\/revisions\/24552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}