Century Park Blog

In 1997, author Mitch Albom published a book called Tuesdays with Morrie, and the television film two years later made the book wildly popular and beloved. The cover of the novel announces the book's simple but powerful theme: "A young man, an old man, and life's greatest lesson."

At one point in the novel, the elderly Morrie tells Mitch that love is the most important part of life and that love always wins in life's wrestling match of tensions and opposites. Daily, we are reminded that love always wins, whether we are disappointed in our child's manners because we taught them better or whether a friend or co-worker has treated us unfairly.

In senior living, we are sometimes faced with an irate family member, and we must take ourselves out of the equation and listen to their emotions knowing that for them the situation seems dire, urgent, even critical. For those family members, the crisis at hand concerns their father, mother, or grandparent — the only father, mother, or grandparent they will ever have. And as associates working and caring for these seniors and their families, you really do get it.

So how does "Love Win?" Think of a scenario where a caregiver is running late, and a manager or director looks at the time clock and notices the caregiver is seven minutes past the shift start time. The manager stops to talk with the associate as she hurries through the break room door, and the manager realizes that somewhere in those seven "late" minutes, this caregiver has given breakfast to three children, dressed them, and dropped them at school. And then the manager looks deeply into the eyes of the caregiver and sees a million thoughts going through her mind: "Did I even kiss the children this morning or tell them that I love them? Was I more concerned about the time clock?"

In response, the manager chooses not to reprimand the caregiver. Instead, when the caregiver looks up at her supervisor, she receives a great big hug. Yes, love wins every time this happens.

In competition, there is nothing like the simultaneous rush of blood, sweat, and sheer happiness of knowing you have won. That feeling lasts in treasured memories, photos, awards, and trophies. But all too soon, those magical moments are put on a shelf, only to be recalled by those you love before those same moments of "winning" eventually gather dust and someday fade.

The love and grace you give to others especially in critical moments will help to define "winning" which truly lasts. It is these defining moments that allow you to live forever in the hearts of those you love and those you encounter: your own imperfect child, or an adult child who is trying to cope with the role-reversal of caring for an ailing parent, and every caregiver who is struggling to be a hero or heroine at home and at work. When love wins, humanity wins.