Love Helps Those

      I grew up around a mentally-challenged great aunt named Dutchie. We both “worked” at my family’s hardware store. I was a child. She was childlike––and would always be. I saw her daily for nearly two decades and had a great fondness for her.

            At her funeral I said that she and those like her were angels sent to us, that we think we take care of them, but the truth is they take care of us––to teach us, to test us, to inspire us, to give us opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise have.

            Her funeral was nearly twenty years ago and I hadn’t thought of that again until this past week while watching Ricky Gervais’s sweet, funny, inspiring new show “Derek,” available now on Netflix.  

            “Derek” is a bittersweet comedy-drama about a group of outsiders living on society’s margins. Derek Noakes, a tender, innocent man whose love for his job at a retirement home shines through. Derek cares deeply for the home’s residents, because they are kind and funny and tell him stories of what life used to be like. Working alongside Derek is Dougie, his landlord who is one of life’s unlucky individuals; Kev, a lovable train wreck; and Hannah, a care worker in the home and Derek’s best friend. She is smart, witty and hard-working, but unlucky in love, and, like Derek, always puts other people first.

            Derek and the Dalai Lama have the same religion.

            The Dalai Lama puts it this way, “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

            Derek puts it this way, “Kindness is magic. It’s more important to be kind than clever or good looking.”

            Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. It involves care and compassion, and as far as religions go, I’d say it’s about as good as it gets.

            Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

            Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” 

            Derek fits firmly in the ancient tradition of holy fool. He’s an innocent, childlike in his honesty, purity, and love.

            Derek and his misfit, marginalized friends are among the most inspiring and entertaining I’ve ever encountered on television, their interactions and reflections make me laugh out loud and move me to tears––usually several times within the same short episode.

            “Derek” is the sweetest, kindest TV show I’ve ever seen. It achieves realism and real goodness while avoiding ever being shallow, overly sentimental, or maudlin.

            I absolutely adore Derek and Hannah, two precious souls, the likes of which I would love have looking after me were I ever to be put in a retirement home. 

            The kindness of “Derek” brings to mind a simple song I’ve loved since I first heard it some twenty-five years ago. It’s by Paul Overstreet and I’ll leave with just one verse and the chorus:

            A little helpless baby child was born into this world

            She didn't have a daddy and her mother was just a girl

            But there came a young man willing to give both of them a home

            The girl he married the child he cherished as though she was his own

            'Cause you see

            Love helps those who cannot help themselves

            It cares about those hearts that's been put up on a shelf

            It will introduce a lonely soul to a lonely someone else

            Love helps those who cannot help themselves