A Song for Grace

A song for Grace

It has been said that I am a little romantic, a soft side to me.  As a young man I had notions of greatness, a passable singing voice and a self- taught ability to string a few notes together on a guitar despite my dyspraxia.  Whilst I had up to date tastes, Billy Joel, Donna Summer, Blondie (oh be still my beating heart) my taste was eclectic, Barbara Streisand, and John Denver to mention a few . I enjoyed the melody of John Denver and his songs were easy for me to cover.  John Denver was a man with flaws, often the way with creative people but this is not a blog about being flawed…

Wearing your heart on your sleeve (hots) has many manifestations, and many labels.  Labels of course because people have to hang something off people and more so for people who challenge us. Words such as bleeding heart liberal, do gooder, are a couple of the most in offensive that I can think of, essentially people who have a predisposition for caring enough to engage, this blog is for one of these people, Grace we will call her, an apt name, charm, beauty, gratefulness, intuitive, heart centred a few synonyms for Grace. Passionate and expectant as well.

There is a cost to wearing your heart on your sleeve, it took me four and a half decades to work that out.  I remember as a social worker the chief executive came to visit our site, we had been a bit grumbly about pay rates and she unwisely commented that it really didn’t matter because us social workers didn’t do it for money.  I called her on that and we walked out to her surprise but she is right, the caring professions tend to be female dominated and consequently under-paid and over worked. Even within this there is another hierarchy, the hardnosed don’t give a shit nasty crew, bullies and generally unregenerate emotionally illiterate.

My friend”s daughter Grace is a social worker and I know a bit about that career and I know a bit about Grace.  Grace genuinely cares for people, on her days off she is texting clients, if she is not texting she is thinking about them,  Grace has lots of leave outstanding, no-where near as much as she is owed if she were really to count the total hours’ she works, the early starts, the late finishes she won’t claim for because she won’t be paid and she can’t take the leave anyway because no one-else will do her work and if they do they won’t either be able to do the work with the level of care needed, either they have too much of their own work to do or they Just don’t care.

Grace like many hots is intelligent, inquiring reflective, she will always do more than her share and will care deeply, celebrate success, and mourn failures.  I suspect that Grace like many hots will be hard to give to, she will see herself as only doing what is right, nothing special and you will need to have earned her trust before she will let you into her life to minister some care to her.  Grace epitomises the things that are good about social workers, the things that impact on people’s life, make no mistake though, she is not a pushover, she is principled and has huge integrity.

So my song for Grace is more a prayer or a poem.

May the sun always be on your shoulders

The wind on your back

May love surround you

May you be cared and cherished

May you be complete and fulfilled

May your dreams come true

And may your life always be

Inspirational and healing.

Grace is not hard to love and his post is just a gentle expression of the love and admiration that I have for her.

Walk tall Grace…

Paul

Walk tall Grace…

Paul