Last week my Mum told me she got broken into.
Mum is 77, my step-Dad is 69, yep, and yes, I guess she’s technically a cougar! But by accident and not design. She’s definitely no predator! They are Carol and Bill.
My lovely parents. They are both still fiercely enjoying independence. They are kind, and warm, but they are getting older and they’re becoming creatures of habit. Their home is very much their haven – the thought that a stranger could have entered while they slept made me feel uneasy.
I felt that sudden surge of worry for their vulnerability. Then the story unfolded. For context, they don’t live here, they live on the Sunshine Coast. It’s a larger population and I guess break-ins aren’t usual, but they’re not entirely unusual either.
Bill had got up at 3am to take the new dog for wee-wees (they are dog people!) The little dog is barking like crazy. They think it’s probably a possum or a cat. When he’s outside Bill notices something in the fernery. Something blue.
I’m not talking one small pot plant here. They have the best fern garden I’ve seen. It’s like the understorey of a forest. It’s part of a semi-closed-in area of their home where indoors meets outdoors. There are Buddha statues and comfy seating. It’s Mum’s chill out zone.
When Bill puts his hand in to see what it is, he touches a hand, one that’s clearly not his.
There’s a man hiding in the fernery.
Bill has a bit of a start. Finding a man’s hand in your fernery at 3am is an instant adrenaline hit. When the man comes out, he has his hands in the air. Like he’s under arrest.
He’s clearly distressed. Bill has to calm him. He’s crying. He’s confused. The vulnerable person isn’t my parent. It’s the little man in the fernery. He’s an older Vietnamese man, who doesn’t speak English.
When my mother Carol stirs, she finds Bill and the older Vietnamese man in the kitchen. This is an unusual sight in the early hours. Bill is making him a cup of tea and trying to communicate with him. Bill spent a lot of his career working in New Guinea and has a knack for using hand signals and simple gestures to communicate. He’s pretty fluent in Pidgin, but that won’t help him here.
They discover the man lives a few streets away in the neighbourhood. He’s been a Buddhist monk. He’s survived some awful trauma that seems to be playing out in some sort of elevated and confused distress. After some time they get him home.
When my mother tells me this on the phone, she’s in tears. Not because they were frightened, but because the man’s confusion, and his emotional pain, had affected them so deeply. They went out of their way to make sure the man was safe. Bill even gave him a cuddle.
I was so moved by this story. This moment of profound compassion. I felt proud of who my parents are. That they were able, at 3am in the morning, to act in care and selflessness. It’s hard enough to do in the daylight hours, let alone when surprised in the dark by a distressed stranger.
Even without language, they knew he had a story, and they cared for a man they had never met. That night, in his distress, that mentally tormented old man found the fernery of unexpected friendship.
That’s humanity in action.
Your parents are legends ! So good the poor guy was hidding in their garden as tge outcome would have been different if somewhere else..
So relieved to see decent caring kind people still exist !
Indeed. I can only imagine what the outcome would have been if they lived in he USA!
Such a heartwarming and inspirational story, Mandy. Thank you for sharing. These stories of kind, compassionate human interactions demonstrate the beauty of humanity and provide solace in the face of much of the world’s ‘news.’. Wishing all the very best to your parents and their new friend.
Living in Cambodia for a few years, I saw how a lot of the older generation who had survived Pol Pot, lived with a lot of ongoing trauma. French was the 2nd language spoken in Cambodia at that time, and fluent in French, was able to get one or two of their stories. Most though, could not even talk about it. There were ‘liveable’ camps (meaning – guards with a conscious), but the majority were torment and torture camps. How lucky we are in Australia and how lucky that frightened old man found your parents backyard.
Amazing how you people can make it all about you!
Beautiful story Mandy. The garden took me back to your book and the mushroom outdoor BBQ setting 😅😅😅😅😅
Thanks Mandy for sharing this awesome good news story , this is the kind of news we need to hear more of in this crazy world , to help us all look up into the positive side of life , make every day a good one .
Inspirational