As the worst winter storm for several decades begins to subside, and we start to calculate the cost in lives and infrastructure and property, life slowly but surely returns to whatever passes for normal.
Cars are pulled from ditches. Businesses reopen. Power lines and hydro poles are replaced, and the power slowly returns to cold homes. These are in the end only inconveniences, though often painful and expensive. Some people missed cooked meals. Some lost property, through flooding or failed sump pumps or lake waves. Some lost work shifts. Some people lost more.
In a not-uncommon event, lost amid the flurry of snow alerts and blizzard warnings, I know a man that unexpectedly (though it happens to many every year) lost his life following a heart attack, after simply. Shovelling. Snow. He will not be the only one. Winter is hard. Always. This, at least, should come as no surprise.
Onward
With the cessation of snowfall and lessening of storm winds comes hope. As life does indeed return to normal people cautiously venture back onto roads recently abandoned to the elements. They meet, share and compare stories of hardship. Communities bring forth heroes. They plow and blow snow. Rescue stranded motorists. Take in strangers. Do welfare checks on neighbours. Cook food. Staff shelters. For those with eyes to see, the world can still be a good place. Hard times often bring out the best in people and communities.
Others complain. Play the blame game. Make silly comments to look clever, instead of actually helping. Social media repeatedly proves one thing, without fail. People can be quick to judgement. Life returns to normal…
I choose not to engage. I smile and say nothing. Now the worst is over, I just climb back in my car and go exploring. Somewhere In Niagara. And that is enough. Winter is one of the cycles of life, and as such I embrace it. We don’t have to like it. We do have to endure it. How each of us does that? Well. That is a choice. Onward.
