Story of Joy Vincent….
In december of 2003, 38 years old, Joyce Vincent died of an apparent asthma attack in her north London flat. The television was left on. The mail continued to be delivered. Her rent was set up to be automatically deducted from her bank account. The days rolled by and no one noticed she was gone.
Days turned into weeks and the weeks into months and later to years.
There were large trash dumpsters on the side of the building next to her unit, so the neighbors never thought much of the smell emanating from her flat. The floor was full of noisy kids and teenagers and no one questioned the constant thrum of television noise in the background.
Eventually, Joyce’s bank account dried up, her landlord sent her letters of collection. These letters, like the others, simply fell into the stacks scattered about her floor unanswered.
Finally, with more than six months of overdue rent, the landlord got a court order to forcibly remove her from the premises. The bailiffs broke down the door, and it was only then her body was discovered. By then, it was January, 2006, more than two years after she passed away.
In that time, nobody ever came looking for Joyce Vincent. No family, no friends, no co-workers, no neighbor knocked on the door to see if things were all right. Nobody called, nobody checked in.
This story is jaw-dropping in its social implications. It feels unfathomable that years could go by with no one noticing a person had died. Yet, these sorts of stories happens and it’s still happening.
When people who knew Joyce were interviewed many described her as a beautiful, intelligent, socially active woman, “upwardly mobile” and “a high flyer”, who they assumed was living a better life somewhere.
Well, i will say “assumption” as caused a lot and we humans are fond of doing that, although research showed that before Joyce death she had cut off ties with friends and her four sisters a year before her death which seemed like a good reason for no one checking on her but, the fact that non of her neighbors deemed it fit to knock on her door showed that something was wrong with that society.
In other not to bore you with much talks, my little advise are; try to check up on people stop assuming people are okay just because they look it, cause most times beneath those smile might be someone who is just “suffering but smiling”.
Secondly, check up on your neighbors, “I am busy is not an excuse” , because everyone is busy, the world is getting cold let’s warm it up with love….
Happy Sunday
CULLED FROM WIKIPEDIA
