Monday 22 October 2012

Hamilton Love

Hamilton Loves, OH yes, Hamilton Loves ..

If you have never seen it then you have never walked in to a Church in the downtown, uptown, mountain town or Valley town. If you have never seen it, then you have never seen the care of Hamilton's VON when an Alzheimer patient walks through the door and every nurse welcomes him with smiles and hugs.
You may not even know of Hamitlon's CCAC which my Mom called when caring for my Dad became too much for her to do alone. You have never met the wonderful Hamilton resident who spends time with my Dad 2 times a week so my Mom can get out for a bit. You have never met the Hamilton care nurse who takes my Dad for lovely walks and spends hours chatting with him sitting on a stone wall looking over the town he grew up in. Though Dad makes little or no sense she can chat away making him feel like nothing is wrong, making him smile and laugh.
You have never seen an employee of the local drug store or grocer dash out of the store to wave down the person who left their paid item at the till. You have never seen a group of young people in the local parks cleaning up the garbage which has blown in after a windy recycle day.  You have never met the Gourley park community Association which is a group of volunteers who have created an affordable children's Baseball league, a league which requires weekly during the summer over 30 parent volunteers to coach the many who come out to play.
This weekend you can see Hamilton Love in action when students from St. Thomas More come collecting for "Halloween for Hunger". Did you know they collected 66,263 lbs of food for the residents of Hamilton last Halloween!

If you have never seen Hamilton Love perhaps it is because you have never extended it yourself ? A smile is contagious, if you start to look for Hamilton Love, if you start to write down the signs you see of Hamilton Love then you will see more and more Hamilton Love around you. If you choose not to look, then you will never witness Hamilton Love. Most likely you will never extend some Hamilton Love and therefore if you are blind to it you may never receive Hamilton Love.

Isn't it funny how we can support our favorite MLB, NFL, CFL, and NHL sports teams through thick and thin, we extend grace to the lock out's we make excuses for the teams failures and we come right back next season and participate with our money and our hearts to cheer those teams on.
Why do we not extend the same grace to the City of Hamilton?
Why don't we support our art's, our teams, our council, our local businesses and most of all our every day hero's who live next door? Why expend any energy which is not positive at all. It is time to support those around us who are trying to shine a light on this City.

We are thankful to the arts' community, the Church community and the Hamilton Love community, they make Hamilton an exciting and wonderful city to live in.
Look around and you will find it, open up your eyes and keep those eyes open.
Today we thank Beaux Mondes for all the work they do, showing us all the many way's Hamilton Loves.


xoxo Aim & Mel