Can It Be Fixed?

 For the fourth time now, we had a repairman come to check the dishwasher. We haven't had a working one in over a month. Each time a person has come to see what was wrong (SK says the water pump isn't working - and has said that from the beginning.), he gets out a screwdriver, wiggles it around in the floor of the dishwasher and claims it is fixed.

Today, he looked at it, wiggled the screwdriver, turned it on, and pronounced, "It needs a new pump." He ordered the part, which will be here in a week and a half, and said, "Cheerio!" We are getting used to doing dishes by hand. That isn't such a big deal, but we don't have Dawn, and I notice that even when we are careful, the dishes don't always have that spotless look. I hope we will be able to have a functioning dishwasher by the time we are able to have visitors here - missionaries - family - and young adults.

I walked three miles this afternoon with Madeline, the young woman I walked with last week. She has been diagnosed with Raynaud's and is undergoing some rigorous treatments to see if it can be brought into submission. In the meantime, she is in constant pain, and with a continual case of light nausea. It is caused by one of the several medications she has been put on. I hope something will help.

We sat down on a bench at the end of our walk and talked. She is tired, and she hurts, and she is trying to finish up her degree, and she and her husband are trying to decide where they will live and where they will work. I feel sorry for her. What a burden she is carrying.

I listened to her talk. Even with the fatigue and pain, she cares so deeply about what is going on in the world. She cares about women who want to have a career and a family and how it should be easier for more to do that. She cares about the poor who don't have a voice.  She cares about the misinformation that is fed to all of us constantly from news outlets and other sources. She cares about racism and women's rights and the attacks on traditional families.

As I listened and watched her speak.  I thought, "She is so young and passionate about these issues." 

I am tired - too tired to be passionate. But I care too. Perhaps I am counting too heavily on these younger people to make the world better. Her husband wants to do something to help the world on a global front. Help with hunger and war. I hope he will do that.

That is a heavy burden on the shoulders of this young generation. To fix something that seems irreparable. It's a daunting task, but I see in this generation a faith and a commitment and a resilience that I haven't seen before. 

I think the future is in good hands.