In the final scene from Tennessee William's play, "A Street Car Named Desire" Blanche Dubois says that she has always relied on the kindness of strangers. A bedraggled Blanche, always on the verge of a nervous breakdown, is finally pushed over the edge by her brutish brother in law. As she is led away to the asylum she tells the men with the butterfly nets that she has always relied on the kindness of strangers. It is almost as if the now, the very mad Blanche, is hoping that the men taking her away will keep her safe.
I never have identified with Blanche. I have always tried to be quite self sufficient. I am someone who remains calm in a crisis, and looks for solutions to problems. I almost always find that I have the resources to deal with life's detours. Oh sure sometimes I need to ask for help but usually that is on my own terms and it is the exception not the rule.
Sometimes though one gets bad news. For us it was finding out that we would soon have to leave Australia. It was not what we planned or hoped for but it is a fact. We are in one way lucky. Unlike refugees we have nothing to fear going back to Canada. We will be safe and we will be welcomed back. However, moving back provides many challenges: what to do with possessions, packing, throwing out, saying good byes, etc. As usually self reliant people, it is all a bit much in 6 weeks.
However, we have been very blessed. Friends and colleagues near and far have offered advice, offered places to stay, offered to help us find new homes for our furniture, and been there for us when we needed to vent. People from Neutral Bay, the Uniting Church and the United Church are helping us in order that we might find that next place where the Spirit might be leading us. For all this support, we say thank you.
We are very self reliant people. But we have been overwhelmingly blessed by so many during these trying times. I may not feel like Blanche DuBois from Streetcar who always relies on others , but thank goodness for friends around the globe who have brightened this trying time. Blessings
