here is our comment for the web page.

Kind regards, Janice and Eleanor

HAVE YOU LISTENED TO SOMEONE RECENTLY? Imogen Lathbury
Vienna, April 2011

October 12, 2011

Our comment:
Imogen’s story struck us because she was conditioned in a good way from childhood to care and to give of her time and resources to others. She followed the example of close family and it is in this way that she has learned and gone on to develop her own voluntary activitiy. She was taught to care.

Listening also came across as being fundementally important. Very often voluntary work is perceived as being active in a practical sense but just listening to someone, allowing them to talk is therapeutic and very often this is underetsimated. Imogen’s experiences show that volunteering need not involve grand gestures or huge self-sacrifice but can comprise of the smallest everyday activities and can bring real benefit to both parties.

Imogen’s comments about there being more than enough work to do is absolutely right. Too often we are fixated on filling our time with paid employment and family activity with only a passing thought for wider society and its woes. We should be looking at ways to encourage wider participation. Start small – an hour a week! Let’s teach our children the three Cs of compassion, consideration and caring.

Janice MacWhirter and Eleanor Crawford
7th June 2012