Being Good

I want to tell you kids about a friend of mine. Ian Anderson.

He was the kind of kid in high school that every one liked. He was not an athlete, but probably could have played soccer. He was smart and kinda nerdy, but so kind to everyone, He had a sense humor and  humility. His humor was mostly self deprecating.

I remember he had this  assembly where he had to present something because he was like class president or something. For whatever reason, he sat at the top of bleachers, like 20 rows up, they called his name to give the announcement, He stood up and walked down the bleachers, then intentionally tripped and rolled/flopped down the stairs.

Everyone in the audience gasped, he hit so hard and bounced. They wanted to laugh but it looked like it hurt. When he finally bounced down to the floor. He popped up like nothing had happened and walked up to the podium. Everyone started dying laughing. He tripped and made himself the fool, just to get a reaction out of people.

He was the kid that everyone new and liked. Band nerd, Ian was your best friend, Basketball star, Ian was your best friend, Stoner, Ian was your best friend. People liked him because he was smart, kind and didn't judge.

I didn't really get to know Ian well till maybe my Junior or Senior year. I don't remember how we started to be good friends but I have a lot of funny stories about going to lunch and driving his '69 cougar.

Anyway, The reason I am writing this is the desire for being good. Sometime in 1999, I got a call from Ian, we had not hung out for a couple years, and this was before everyone had cell phones or Facebook. I didn't even own a computer then.

He called me and says, "Baker, Do you have a car?"
"Yes," I replied, "Why?"
"I have a service project for us"

Notice he said "US" not you. He explained that an older lady needed help moving from a house into an apartment. This was Provo, in the Summer. Rents in apartments are much cheaper. This lady was probably in her 50's or 60's. Somehow Ian met her and she asked him for help moving, He took his truck over and realized he needed more help. I went to this lady's house.

I had never met a hoarder, or even heard the term. It was the late 1990's reality TV was probably a thing, but I was not familiar with it.

This lady was in her 50s or early 60's she was at the age where she could be older or younger depending on if she combed her hair or changed her clothes. Not a neat person, not a normal person, a little odd, small, thin, but full of energy.

So, I walk into this lady's house. Bags, and bags and bags stacked. Not trash bags, but grocery bags filled with all kinds of sewing thread, clothes, hats, everything you can imagine. It was not anything weird, it was just a LOT of the normal stuff you have. The piles were stacked so high that you could not see the walls in some placed, and the floor was so covered that I cant remember if it had carpet.

Ian and I loaded his truck to the top, then my car, the front and back seat and trunk filled with numberless bags. We got essentials first like pots, pans, pantry items, then the Hanging clothes in house and a bed. We spent an entire day. I was grumbling about how much she had.

Then I saw why Ian asked for help. She opened up one of the thousand bags and pulled out a hat. This hat was like the kind you would get for free at a convention. Baseball cap, ventilated in back, elastic one size fits no one strap. She took this hat, hot glued marbles, and trinkets, and fake flowers to it. Then She spray painted the whole thing a metallic silver. She put it on and showed Ian.
"This is the hat that I wear when I go to Singles Activities, I want the boys to know that I am a fun girl." Ian had the ability to look at her and see her for what she was, one of God's daughters. She was peculiar, but she had desires, wants, she was a good person, Ian could see what Christ sees in people. That was why we were there. Ian recognized someone needed help, and he helped her.

But he also recognized that he couldn't do it alone. He asked me, We worked all day. When we finished, Ian contacted the Elders quorum of the ward this lady had moved out of and where she was moving into, and arranged a bunch of people to help her.

The elders quorum went to her house, Loaded all the stuff into a few trucks and drove it to the dump. They then cleaned the house, vaccumed and cleaned. This lady was heart broken. (It really was what she needed but not what she wanted)

The reason i am telling you this is that, if i do not make it through this COVID thing. You need to figure out how to be good, and how to do good. You need to look at others the way that Christ does. You need to be like Ian. Do what you can do for those, treat those with love.