There ought to be a Big Sisters Day

There ought to be an official Big Sisters Day! Maybe there aren't many Big Sisters as strong, delightful, protective and embracing as my big sister, Elna, but I believe there must be.  In every family, even a family of three, one of the siblings wears the mantle of Goodness.  One of them projects a steady force of good that acts, not reacts.  Yes, Elna was the first of four sisters but that doesn't explain her inexplicable love.  How did she know to love so fiercely?  A forever love.  How did she manage it with such aplomb?

A time-tattered story wended its way through three generations of family.  It centers around the four sisters and brothers who attended the same elementary school on the Near North Side of Chicago.  Bullies roamed playgrounds and neighborhoods back in the day, too.  Well, during recess Elna heard that Theophilus (not his real name) had threatened one of her sisters.  She did not go immediately back to her class.  Instead, she went to her sister's class, politely asked the teacher to "excuse" her in advance, then asked if Theophilus was there.  With a brusque "Yeah," he raised his hand.

Whereupon, Elna went to his desk and knocked him upside his head.  Then she mopped up the floor with him, as much as the desks on either side would allow, according to first-hand accounts.  She left among the pandemonium that ensued, walked to the Principal's office, and confessed.  Yes, she was suspended and had to face Mother's disappointment, along with the litany, "Go to school; get a good education, and you'll be somebody."  Elna endured like a good soldier who had earned her "bones."  Subsequently, no one with our last name ever got bullied again.  Even after she graduated and went to high school.  History lives!

How different her problem solving ways contrast with the way young people her grandchildren's ages  deal with them today.  Now, children are gunned down, for whatever reason! Of course, there's never a good or legitimate one.  I've heard it posited that young people shoot guns now because they do not know how to deal with issues through fisticuffs.  Sadly, they do not know how to box, much less just plain fight,with bare fists.

Elna married young.  Yet, between giving birth to five children she finished a nursing degree and worked night shifts so she could be home when her school-aged children returned.  Compassionate, kind, and firm,  Elna invariably received assignments to nurse the most difficult patients on the ward at the County-funded hospital.  The story goes that when recalcitrant patients refused medication, all a staffer needed to do was to announce that she was on the floor.  To a person, each one opened his mouth and swallowed his meds! No problems there.  "Tender heart" could have  been her middle name, as she modeled love with patients, family, colleagues and friends alike.

My Big Sister suffered from numerous physical ailments, chief among them a heart that could not endure the pain, disappointment, and setbacks life brings..  She carried more than her spiritual weight could bear. Sadly, Elna  might not truly have embraced the promises found in an old hymn:

"If the world form you withhold, of its silver and its gold, And you have to get along with meager fare, just remember in His word how He feeds the little bird, Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there."

"Leave it there, leave it there, Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.  If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.  Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there."

I think one condition threw her off balance. "If you trust and never doubt" can be daunting.  I know it is with me.  Never can be a dangerous warning for one who feels she does not have the requisite faith not to doubt or question or speculate.  The more I think about her life and legacy, the more I understand that God knows all! The hymnologist used absolutes to announce where he was in his spiritual journey at the time. No matter.  God. Knows. Just. How. Much. You.Can. Bear.

An official Big Brothers Day would be appropriate, also.  I had one of them, too; praise the Lord!

Dear Reader, I invite your thoughts, responses, and/or feelings concerning this Blog as well as any previous ones.  Thank you.