How Observant Are You?
The Gambo Salvation Army Citadel was probably the town’s landmark building. It was not a grand hotel, but it can be. As a result of 9/11 it became a hostel. Theresa Burry’s (that was her maiden name – she’s now known as Theresa Antonietti) official title at the time was the Secretary of the Gambo Salvation Army Citadel, but during September’s hospitality campaign, she unofficially became field commander. To us plane people, she was affectionately known as “Mother Theresa”. As we all found out, that involved much more than the provision of food and shelter.
In a news article that was aired by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), they captured the story about two couples who were caught in the crossfire.
Mother Theresa kicks off the story by saying, “Well Captain Reid, the Salvation Army Officer called me around six I guess on Tuesday evening, and he says, ‘You need to get everything available that we have.’” She was one of the first people who greeted us plane people as we disembarked off the school buses and walked into the Salvation Army (SA) church.
You need to get everything available that we have.
We were greeted with the sight of blankets and a hall prepared for a feast for kings. Mother Theresa understood how to welcome people; it’s more than food and shelter for a group. What she demonstrated was that it was about paying attention to individuals...
There were two couples in particular on our flight that she ended up noticing. The first were an Australian couple called Iain and Julia Campbell. At the time they were living in San Diego. They had their own story of September 11. The public calamity intersected with a private anxiety about their son.
By the time they arrived at the SA, they found out that their son had an abrasion on his foot and it had gotten infected. He was a professional surfer, in Indonesia at the time of this crisis. In their mind, the Campbells were considering the worst possible scenario. Their son risked losing his career with the possibility that he was going to have his leg amputated from the knee down.
Julia Campbell narrated the story during her interview for this article. “Iain and I were absolutely numb. We were walking around, totally stunned, completely helpless, you know, at some point I was beginning to feel really selfish that I had these thoughts about my own family when so many people had lost members of their family. This after all,” Julia continued, “was only a limb. Theresa was absolutely marvellous. She took both Iain and I under her wing and she led us to her office. She allowed us to use her personal phone to make as many phone calls that we needed.”
Iain and Julia Campbell with Mother Theresa (middle)
Her husband Iain continues the story, “She also allowed us to have the privacy of the office so that we could cry when we needed to cry and, you know, felt comfortable speaking with our family.”
Another couple, Steve and Tara Washington, were a young couple on their way to Las Vegas to celebrate their honeymoon. Newlyweds, as newlyweds often do, got noticed.
“Steve and I found a pew to sleep on. And we realised, you know, we were going to have to face the whole night (sleeping there),” Tara explained. But it wasn’t long before they were called out. A family had come to the church, having heard that there were newlyweds there. Tara went on to say that they, “basically offered up their home for us and said, you know, we will give you a bed and a shower and a bit of privacy on your honeymoon night.”
Local congregation members, Craig and Brenda Russell, found the stray honeymooners. Brenda picked them up at the church while Craig was out doing some rounds. When he returned home, he said that he walked into the lounge and these, “two little guys were sitting on the couch!”
Tara could not speak highly enough about them. “The Russells were just fantastic. They cheered us up. They took us out, they constantly wanted to take us shopping, take us sightseeing, you know, entertain us. They brought their family to meet us. They had a barbecue for us. They wouldn’t let us wallow. They just wanted us to enjoy their time, our time and Gambo.”
Bill Hooper, who was the Mayor of Lewisport, was also interviewed in the same article. When quizzed about what they did and what made them different, he humbly said that they just did what they thought anyone would do to make them comfortable. “We tried to be friends with all of them. I just thought everyone would do that.”
Newfoundlanders, Hooper went on to say, do have that reputation to try to help. When a Newfoundlander’s help is needed, they generally come through when the need is there.
The reporter went on to say:
I can speak to this... People who drop in to Newfoundlanders are not going to go away hungry. In the four or five days of their stay in Lewisport and Gambo, the grub was ready, and often.
There was a feast set for kings ready for us by the time we arrived.
I can personally attest to that!
As we settled in, and the shock of events wore off, something curious occurred.
I noticed what Mother Theresa was doing. She was walking slowly through the crowd! She was taking her time to stop and talk to people.
This simple act of kindness enabled her to identify those who were broken, lost or in pain. And she then spent time ensuring that they were looked after.
Here are three simple things that you can do:
Stop what you are doing and pay attention to those around you.
Be ‘present’. Stop thinking about yourself or what you are going to say or do next, but be present. Make sure that you are ‘in the moment’. This way you can pick up the subtle, and often unspoken signals that indicate a call for help.
Do the right thing. I was once told that it is better to ‘do the right thing’ than do things right! What this means is if there are rules and processes, you might have to circumvent them to do the right thing for the person that you are with.