It was last weekend, following our first snowfall of the season, when I got to know William, an active-duty Navy chief, who, until then, I only had spoken to on a couple of brief occasions. I was shoveling my driveway last Sunday, as it were...working 10 minutes, then resting for 20, just as I watched Pop have to do when he was my age. Suddenly, out of nowhere, William walked up, with snow shovel in hand, and asked if I could use some help, and you can well imagine my response.
In a matter of only a few minutes, William had managed to shovel circles around me and complete a job that easily would have taken me hours to finish on my own. I extended my heartfelt thanks, and William returned to his wife, daughter and son across the street.
Little could I have known that another snowfall would become a reality just one week later, but then came what all the weather forecasters yesterday were dubbing a "bomb cyclone." And last night, as we all know now, came another round of that white stuff (albeit, thankfully, in only a small dose locally) that required another order for "all hands to man their shovels." Having already felt the sting of today's 20-some-degree temps when I stepped out to grab the morning newspaper, though, I had decided to wait until a warmer day tomorrow to shovel my way out once more.
It was while subsequently sitting at my computer that I began hearing a snow shovel in operation and looked out my front window to find William actively engaged in clearing his driveway and the sidewalk in front of his house, as well as the drainage area along the curb. I stood there for several minutes, thinking how nice it would be to have his youthful abilities. In those minutes, I saw William's toddler son also emerge from the house, dressed as a very small Michelin man and armed with a dust pan to help his dad clear away the snow. Shortly after that, William's wife appeared on the scene and began brushing snow off her husband's pickup...painting an indeed warm picture of a loving family doing things together.
They were all still working when I returned to my computer. In a few moments, however, I heard what sounded like a snow shovel scraping my driveway. I looked out to see William already more than halfway done. By the time it took me to get to the door, he was putting the finishing touches on our sidewalk. All I could do was thank him profusely.
As I sit here reflecting on events of the day thus far, I find it comforting to know that, despite all the hate and divisiveness that runs so rampant in our country today, there still are some who typify the "neighbor helping neighbor" philosophy that has served us so well over the years. I can only hope and pray that we all find our way back to this proven standard before it's too late.
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