January 30, 2009
Taking the Time to Make a Difference
Lord, when did we see you without electricity?
BY PAUL R. LEINGANG
The woman at the front of the line had a gallon of milk and a few other items. The man in front of me had a case of beer and a snow shovel. It was the evening before one of nature’s winter holiday events – an ice storm in the Ohio valley.
At 7 o’clock, light rain was falling. At 9 o’clock, the air was heavy, moisture-laden, and our part of the world was full of questions about what would happen next.
At 10 o’clock, we had our answers: no school tomorrow, a delay at the office, a joyful time for some, inconvenience for others.
It is my job, at such a time, to notify broadcast stations about Catholic school closings. We have a system that employs a mixture of technologies – Internet notice covers seven media outlets; a touchtone phone makes the connection with another. Telephone voice mail gets word simultaneously to six radio stations, and one TV news department still allows me to talk on the phone with a real, live person – a most marvelous method of communication.
When schools are closed, when roads are hazardous, It is important, even though many people already know that a decision has been made. Some schools have the technology to contact all of the homes they serve using a combination of e-mails, voice-mails or text messages. I think people still like to have the message reinforced. The crawl at the bottom of the TV screen confirms the truth of the text message.
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That’s what I was thinking about yesterday. Now, as I continue writing this column, it is the day after our ice storm — and the second day is worse than the first!
The first day began with an inch and a-half of ice crystals. By late afternoon, conditions were worsening. Before dawn of the second day, our power was out, tree limbs covered with ice had fallen throughout the neighborhood, and four inches or so of new snow covered the ice from the day before.
Schools were closed, many offices, too.
Probably the best thing tthat happened on the second day was a phone call from Keith, a neighbor down the streeet who is the president of our neighborhood association. He has consistently and persistently urged all of us to be prepared for disaster.
Keith was calling around to find out if we knew of anybody who might need assistance. I suggested the name of a woman who lives alone, but he assured me another neighbor was already visiting her. One neighbor has had training for just this kind of emergency, and he was already out and about.
Our street was active. People were clearing branches from driveways, scraping snow from cars, and in some cases, getting an extra set of hands to push a car a way from a parking place.
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On our second day of the ice storm, after the power went out, I searched in the dark for a flashlight. When I found it, I had to search for spare batteries to replace the old ones in the flashlight.
I wanted to light a fire in the fireplace, but our supply of wood is stored on the other side of our backyard fence, and the gate was covered with ice and frozen shut.
I found the batteries. I used a ladder to cross the fence. But all the while I couldn’t help but recall the story in the gospels — the one about the women waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. I had oil for my lamp, so to speak. I just had trouble getting to it.
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How well are you prepared?
How well do you know your neighbors?
I have come to realize that it is relatively easy to go get bread and milk when the threat of bad weather is possible. That is much easier than setting up a neighborhood association where neighbors can help neighbors when utility crews and public service personnel are overwhelmed.
Today is a good day to plan to make a difference.
Comments are welcome at office@cfm.org or the Christian Family Movement, P.O. Box 925, Evansvsille, IN 47706-0925