Esther & J.J.
Isaac’s Random Acts of Kindness
Esther & J.J.
The “personalism” Peter Maurin so often talked about is an inherent trait among Appalachians in the hills. For the most part, they really do take care of each other, and not just when it’s easy or convenient. For instance, they’ll take in “crazy Uncle Lou,” even though he drinks too much. They’ll have fundraisers for “mean Mrs. Beale,” who is sick and without insurance. Longtime feuds have come to an abrupt end after house fires, and the victims often receive more than they can use from the whole community, due to an overwhelming sympathy or an “all-too-familiar” empathy.
Since many services we could provide would be redundant, we simply attempt to fill in any gaps. On occasion, we have offered long and short term residential hospitality. However, our service to locals is most often in the form of outreach and not much different than what they already do for one another; things like, visiting or doing errands for the elderly, helping neighbors collect wood for the winter, purchasing parts for broken down jalopies, passing around hand-me-down clothes, and getting in the field when its hay season. Regardless what it entails, our out-reaching is never done at arms length.
