Lending a Hand

Well the snow that had been predicted to arrive on Friday afternoon did come and it came in abundance. For about 24 hours the snow was falling and for a while it seemed like it wouldn't end. When it finally did, then the dig out began. But after the massive rush at the stores which had occurred on Thursday and Friday of last week I was a little doubtful that the spirit of assistance that usually comes out in such circumstances would appear or not. Now while I understand the panic that had some people worried that they would never see the sun again at the start of this storm, I was also surprised at how selfish some people seemed to become.

Seeing reports at stores and seeing how much food they had literally hoarded in anticipation of the storm left me to wonder what would happen if the worst did actually come to pass. I mean it's one thing to have milk and water enough to sustain you for a few days but some people appeared to be hoarding up in case they were stranded for a month. And again, if it was for a large family I could understand but when you're only talking about a couple in their own home then I wonder why they need 10 gallons of milk and five loaves of bread. It seemed that many were thinking of only themselves and not of any others at this time of potential crisis and that was sad to see.

But once the snow ended I saw that the spirit of helping isn't only limited to the Christmas season and is alive and well in many people and in many places. In digging my car out of the snow shell it was encased in I was happy to find my neighbors coming out to lend a hand. Together we not only dug out our own vehicles but those of our friends as well and within a short time we were able to get ourselves out on the road. Walking around the neighborhoods and such it was again heartening to see many people coming out to lend and hand to those who needed it and without expectation of reward. It was a sign that that spirit that comes out under difficult circumstances wasn't gone. Perhaps it had just been in hibernation.

I heard on the radio about how a group of seniors living in a seniors community in Virginia were stranded because a plow had not come through and no one could help them dig out so a group of police officers who were off duty got together and helped dig the seniors out. What is more amazing is that these officers drove from their homes in central Maryland to Northern Virginia to help them out after they heard the story on the news. And before you begin thinking that I should be doing rather than just saying about helping and taking help from others, I'm proud to say that I've helped my neighbors and complete strangers get out of sticky situations in the snow and ice and will continue to do so because when bad weather strikes, it's good to know that people are their for each other.