Today’s front page tells of the love of a daughter for her father, who is not only her sole primary carer, but seemingly her best friend.
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It also speaks of what it means to be a community, and to the very Christmas spirit of offering others our best selves, even in crisis.
Bethany Reed, 10, has mild cerebral palsy, a condition sufficient to need the support of The Crescent School for developmental delay.
But Bethany needed no special instruction when faced with her father’s collapse in the garden of their Albert Street home last week.
Dean Reed, who takes blood pressure medication, only remembers feeling a sharp pain in his arms and chest before collapsing.
The family of two is still quite new to Goulburn, but Bethany went straight to a friendly neighbour, despite having no ‘training’ in crisis.
The neighbour, Kelly Corcoran, called the paramedics, who came promptly, while her daughter, Zoe, comforted a distressed Bethany.
All’s well that ends well: the hospital discharged Dean that evening, but it “could have been very different,” the ambulance inspector said.
The chain of people who stepped up to the crisis – from Bethany, to Kelly, to the paramedics doing their job – all helped save Dean’s life.
That’s what a community is, and that’s what a community does. It is a chain of people, and those people link each other together.
Where the links are properly bonded, the chain is strong and can lift any weight when threaded through the pulley of a city’s amenities.
We’ve seen this lifting ability on a large scale this year through the strong linked actions of the Goulburn District Unions, for instance. Their bonded stance against disruption to the city’s health services has seen a re-think of announcements on its institutions’ futures.
On a smaller but no lesser scale, we see this lifting ability through our city’s many, varied charities, at Christmas and all year round. From the giving trees and seasonal gatherings to the groups such as Meals on Wheels and Angels for the Forgotten, we stand together.
Bethany acted instinctively: the love of one human for another. Let her actions be an instruction for us all to act in kind.