On Jan. 31, we had our first significant snowfall in the Washington, DC area. The scarcity of the white stuff is probably a result of climate change and global warming, but that’s a story for another day.
What this snowfall brought to mind for me is the concept of ‘help thy neighbor.’
When I was a kid growing up in East Texas any time someone needed help, for just about anything, neighbors from far and wide would show up. After leaving home and living in cities around the world for over 20 years, I found that I missed having ‘good neighbors.’
Then back in 1988 I built a house in a new community in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. We didn’t live in it for any length of time until 2012, but over the years I got to know my neighbors, some of whom built their homes the same time we did, while others are relatively new comers.
After retiring from government service and going into fulltime writing –working from home – I’ve gotten to know those neighbors better. We now chat across fences, or when we’re raking leaves. I didn’t realize that I missed that kind of camaraderie.
It really hit home, though, when the snow came. As much as I hate snow, or any other kind of cold weather, I knew the driveway needed clearing lest it turn into a deadly ice rink, so I bundled up, grabbed a snow shovel, and started digging.
My neighbor, David, who moved in a couple of years ago, had just finished doing his driveway, and he and his son, Mikey, volunteered to help me. My neighbor Jim, from across the street, was doing his driveway and sidewalk, so David’s daughter, Rachel, went over to help him.
Since we were using David’s snow blower, we finished first, so we all went over and helped Jim finish, then back to David’s to put the finishing touches on his driveway.
It’s called being a good neighbor, and the conventional wisdom that it no longer exists is just plain wrong. In neighborhoods around the world, I imagine there are other people like us, people who’ve developed friendships over time, and who pitch in to help each other when help’s needed. It’s a comforting feeling.
The only dark spot on the day. An hour after we finished doing our driveways, it started snowing again. I decided to sleep in the following day and let Mother Nature take care of it from there.
That decision held for all of two hours after I finally hauled myself out of bed – late for me, I usually get up at 5 or 5:30, but on that morning, I stayed in bed until 6 a.m. After exercising, cleaning up, and doing my usual breakfast of cereal and coffee, I looked outside and saw that it hadn’t snowed as much as I feared it would.
Finally at 8:45, I shrugged, put on a heavy coat, donned my heavy, fur-lined gloves and went out to scrape the light dusting of snow away before it turned to ice. My neighbor, Jim, obviously had the same idea. We chatted as we scraped, a job that thankfully didn’t take long. Who would ever thought that snow would make good neighbors? – NWI
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