July 22, 2025
Dear Dementia,
It is hard to write tonight. Life is messy. Times have not been easy. And, today marks 20 years since my grandfather died. Anyway, here goes.
What is it about you that brings out the worst in people? Even those advocating for a better life with you? So often we are running around putting people down, telling them they are wrong while simultaneously spreading the myth that “everyone has their truth.” We only allow one side of a story, to be told.
Instead we should be lifting people up. Doing so in the form of friendship, of beautiful encounters. We are not good at this. We are judgmental and sometimes even self-centered. You, by your nature, take so much from us, why must we always add to that pile of losses through our abandonment, our nastiness, our self-righteousness regarding what it means to “have dementia.” Life is hard enough with out all of this. Dementia, if you can, help us bring out something better in us, if only for a moment or two.
Until tomorrow,
Kate
