I was given a present

yesterday. My friend Jen Campbell sent me a copy of her "100 poem challenge". For those of you who do not know Jen she is (naturally) a writer and the manager of a bookshop, a good friend, smart, funny and serious. Jen does things. You can find her over at "This is not the six word novel" in my blog roll.
Jen is also the author of "Weird things people say in bookshops" which will be published this year. Her blog is full of weird things people say, interesting interviews with other writers and other reflections on life.
Oh, and she happens to have EEC syndrome. Here's a link to the explanation for that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ectrodactyly%E2%80%93ectodermal_dysplasia%E2%80%93cleft_syndrome
In order to raise money for research into the eyesight problems associated with that Jen spent a weekend writing short poems inspired by "tag" words people had given her. Want to know more? Go and read her blog and the book.
Yes, Jen does things. It made me think about people who do not do things. Someone called in at our place last night. She wanted to return a box my father had made for some items belonging to the Neighbourhood Watch group. The group has just folded. My father was the first Area Coordinator of the local NW group. He did the job for eight years. A couple of other people took a turn for two years. Then someone did a long stint like my father. That person was simply too ill to carry on, so ill he died a couple of weeks ago. We will miss him.
Nobody was prepared to take on the job of Area Coordinator. It was not an onerous task but nobody was prepared to do it. I did talk to the previous Area Coordinator about it if they could change the time but he said, "Cat, your family has already contributed and you have enough to do." True. There are plenty of other people in the district who do nothing at all. They have time on their hands. They could do things. They have the ability to do things. They do not want to do things.
I admit I did not go to meetings -but they clashed with another commitment. I did do a newsletter delivery. I try to be aware of the needs of my neighbours.
So, we no longer have a Neighbourhood Watch group. I have fielded some complaints about this from people who want to know where the newsletter is. They never went to meetings. They never contributed in any way. I have said this. They are full of excuses about "lack of time" etc.
They say to me "I do not know where you find the time...". The answer is simple. I do not have enough time but I do not waste the time I have. (Unless this blog counts as a waste of time!)