There is something holy and sacred in having the courage to ask the hard questions of God especially when those questions often have no answers
The Rev. Brad Munroe, the Executive Presbyter of the local denominational body of which I am a part (part of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A), has rewritten the Serenity Prayer for the 21st Century.
God, grant me the
serenity to accept that others
may misunderstand, misinterpret, and misjudge
my motives when hearing the narratives I speak,
the courage to listen with grace, humility, and compassion
for other’s motives when hearing the narratives they speak,
and the wisdom to know when to speak and when to listen,
always seeking charity, clarity, and conviction from all.
In a recent article, Brad writes about the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAR) which is a term psychologists use to describe the phenomena of attributing ill motives to others while assuming pure motives for oneself. For example, if someone cuts us off while driving, our first thought might be “What a jerk!” Conversely, consider the last time you were suddenly honked at for drifting into a different lane. You may have had an immediate alibi (e.g. the sun was in my eyes, my kids were distracting me) that explained your behavior based on a situation. You didn’t immediately come to the conclusion that you were an inconsiderate or incompetent driver. Because of the Fundamental Attribution Error, we tend to believe that others do bad things because they are bad people. We’re inclined to ignore situational factors that might have played a role.
A particularly common example is the self-serving bias, which is the tendency to attribute our successes to ourselves, and our failures to others and the situation. You might have noticed yourself making self-serving attributions at times. How often do we judge others harshly while letting ourselves off the hook at the same time by rationalizing our own unethical behavior? The Fundamental Attribution Error is so pervasive that I guarantee you will see it in action over the next week if you keep your eyes open. If we were to add up how many times the FAR is made in the meetings we attend, the gatherings we go to, the conversations with family and friends, we would likely find reasons why our life together needs an injection of “the courage to listen with grace, humility, and compassion.”
Some helpful remedies and things to consider are: watch out when you make generalizations and don’t be too quick to draw conclusions about the character and capabilities of others, assume the good will of the other person, and envision yourself in the shoes of the other person and imagine their challenges. Unquestionably, there are genuine jerks and incompetent people we run across in life. Given our inherent tendency to ascribe negative traits quickly, we will be better off by considering alternate explanations before we jump to conclusions. Those folks that are truly deserving of negative labels will have ample opportunity to validate our suspicions!
The Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) is designed to help people pay for long term care. Part of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, AHCCCS (pronounced “access”), ALTCS (pronounced “all-tex”) provides support for both children with substantial needs as well as older adults. ALTCS is part of the Medicaid system, and it has very specific medical and financial qualifying guidelines.
To qualify medically, applicants will be interviewed by a nurse or social worker who will come to your apartment. The interviewer will ask for a list of current medications and recent medical records. Questions are designed to evaluate activities of daily living (“Can you dress yourself? How long does it take?”). They may ask about recent falls, as well as orientation to time and place. In order to qualify medically an applicant’s level of need must be determined to be at or near a nursing home level of care. I often observe these interviews on Campus and have found the interviewers to be friendly and helpful.
While the majority of people who receive ALTCS services do live in assisted living or higher level of care, an ALTCS designation does not mandate setting. If an individual lives at large in the community, or in an independent living apartment here on Campus, they can still qualify for ALTCS services. However, in these cases ALTCS will provide (pay for) caregivers to assist with needs; these caregivers can be from an agency or someone of your own choosing, including your spouse. If you are in independent living, ALTCS will not help pay for rent. If you live in assisted living, they will.
The second qualifying category is financial. Income and assets are evaluated to see if a person meets the qualifying standard. If you have over $2,000 in a checking account, or earn more than $2,250 per month (these numbers change for married couples) you will not appear to be financially eligible. However, the financial guidelines can get complicated. For example, if you earn over the monthly limit, but meet other criteria, you can have an income-only trust set up that will allow you to qualify. It can pay in the long run to have your application handled by experienced ALTCS planning professionals or elder law attorneys. Please feel free to contact me at x16117 if you have questions about ALTCS.*
Back when the West was being settled the major means of transportation was the stagecoach – we have all seen them in western movies. What you might not know is that the stagecoach had three different kinds of tickets: first-class, second-class, and third-class. If you had a first-class ticket that meant you could remain seated during the entire trip no matter what happened. If the stagecoach got stuck in the mud, or had trouble making it up a steep hill, or even if a wheel fell off, you could remain seated because you had a first-class ticket.
If you had a second-class ticket you also could remain seated…until there was a problem. In case of a problem, second-class ticket holders would have to get off until the problem was resolved. You could stand off to the side and watch as other people worked. You did not have to get your hands dirty. But second-class ticket holders were not allowed to stay on board. When the stagecoach was unstuck you would get back on and take your seat.
If you had a third-class ticket, you would definitely have to get off if there was a problem. Why? Because it was your responsibility to help solve the problem. You had to get out and push or help lift to fix a broken wheel or whatever was needed because you only had a third-class ticket. I believe that God intended for us all to have 3rd class tickets because we all need to be a part in helping to solve the problems in this world. Those who feel they have 1st class tickets can bemoan the state of our country and complain about what’s happening and they sit there watching everyone else do the work. 2nd class ticket holders can stand on the sidelines as well, passively marking the passage of time until the train starts again. 3rd class ticket holders are co-creators with God getting the job done. How are you participating in bringing heaven to earth?
The Welcome Committee is planning a WEAR YOUR NAME TAG WEEK beginning October 24th through the 30th. During this time, we are encouraging all residents to participate! Wearing your name tag gives other residents the opportunity to greet you by name and start up a conversation. It picks up the spirits of anyone who may not be having a good day, and is a great way of making new friends. It broadens your horizon as you gather more people into your circle of life and you get to know them even better when this friendship becomes stronger. We all come from different backgrounds and different parts of our country and have great stories to share with everyone.
