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Truck crashes while descending Giants Despair in Laurel Run

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Hazleton’s Operation Pressure Point nets two arrests, two citations

<p>They say that good health is true wealth. For my family, the good news is that we are fairly healthy, and we don&#8217;t get sick all that often.</p><p>The bad news is that I am likely to get in trouble for telling this story.</p><p>While it is true that I rarely find myself &#8220;under the weather,&#8221; not long ago I was fighting a head cold or springtime allergies of some sort. In an effort to alleviate the symptoms, I went to our &#8220;medicine shelf&#8221; and discovered that everything we had to fight a cold was expired &#8230; very expired.</p><p>The Benadryl expired in 2013. The Sudafed expired in 2014. A bottle of Tylenol Cold and Flu expired in 2016, and the Children&#8217;s Claritin, which was way in the back, 2006!</p><p>My wife, who is not going to appreciate me sharing all of this, and I were a bit surprised that neither of us had ever noticed the expiration dates before now and, after our initial disbelief of our neglectfulness, we threw all of the old medicine out. I eventually took two aspirin and went to bed.</p><p>Although the proper use of medication is important and can be very helpful, a noted physician, poet and author, Dr. Debasish Mridha, once said, &#8220;The cure for everything is not medicine, but the pure kindness of a compassionate heart.&#8221; Another wise doctor once said, &#8220;The best medicine for humans is love.&#8221;</p><p>When someone asked this doctor what to do if that didn&#8217;t work. He smiled and answered, &#8220;Increase the dose.&#8221;</p><p>Kindness, compassion and love can go a long way in curing many of the ills that impact our world, society, community and families.</p><p>At the United Way of Wyoming Valley, we often get to see kindness, compassion and love in action. We see it in our donors and volunteers; in the agencies we fund; the schools that partner with us; and in the families needing support for a child or another family member in need.</p><p>Although most of us do not have a medical degree, every one of us can find opportunities to spread kindness, compassion and love. Keeping kids safe, helping them learn and grow; supporting new parents to alleviate stress; mentoring and tutoring students; preventing abuse and neglect of any kind; listening; being a voice for the underserved; or sharing our time, talent or resources to lift others or assist those in need are just a few of the many things we can do to have an impact in the lives of others or on behalf of our community.</p><p>Mother Teresa, of course, was not a doctor, but with pure kindness of a compassionate heart and love, she spent most of her life caring for those who were poor, ill and underserved. She tells us, &#8216;If you can&#8217;t help one hundred people, just help one&#8230;. and always start with the person nearest you.&#8221;</p><p>Kindness, compassion and love are indeed powerful forces that truly can heal people, provide hope and change lives. I am proud of the work at the United Way. We are mobilizing the caring spirit in others on behalf of children and those in need throughout the Wyoming Valley, and I am especially grateful to those who help advance our mission by their financial support, volunteerism and advocacy. Lives are changing because of the generosity of our donors and volunteers and the hard work of our partners.</p><p>You do not need to be a doctor to dispense the good medicine of kindness, compassion and love. Yet, unlike the medication on our medicine shelf at home, thankfully, these never have an expiration date.</p><p>Hopefully, my usually awesome wife will still be kind, compassionate and loving after she reads that I so publicly shared another one of our flaws. Chances are, I will need two more aspirin!</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Bill Jones</p><p>Guest Columnist</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Bill Jones is President and CEO at United Way of Wyoming Valley. He can be reached at 829-6711 ext. 1230.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Their view: Love and caring pretty good medicines