If you’ve been anywhere near a television or the internet in
the last few days, chances are that you’ve heard (and probably formed opinions)
about Snowpocalypse 2014 in Atlanta
I’m one of those people who abandoned a car on an impassable
roadway. My sister’s normally 10-minute
commute lasted 6 hours before she gave up and walked the rest of the way
home. My mother spent more than 8 hours
in her car before finally, thankfully safely, arriving at my home for a toilet,
food and bed (in that order). I have
friends who didn’t make it home at all and spent the night in their cars on the
highway, there were children who spent the night in their school gymnasiums
because their parents couldn’t get to them.
People took shelter where they could and improvised in whatever ways
possible.
If you’re far away and seeing this on TV, with newscasters
tsk-tsking the Powers That Be for letting this happen and laying out their
vision of what should have been done,
you may be nodding your heads in agreement and laughing at “those poor dumb
southerners” who can’t handle a little snow.
I understand the rush to judgment. I do.
I’m not interested in discussing the politics of it all, other than to
say that more people are “in charge” than the 2 faces you see on CNN and none
of them were able to shove egos aside and communicate with one another. I don’t think any of them have a direct line
to Mother Nature so while they certainly knew ahead of time that weather was
coming, no one could absolutely know how bad/hard/fast it would arrive. When it was time to make the important calls,
my belief is that everyone remembered those times when they did react and
nothing happened so they were mocked, criticized and lost re-elections. The ego is like an elephant. It never forgets.
As for “poor dumb southerners” who can’t handle a little
snow, I will just say this: I have lived
many places, and driven in many conditions - from hurricanes to blizzards. This was not about snow. What happens in the south doesn’t happen
everywhere. When it snows, it melts the
moment it hits pavement. When people
drive, it becomes slush. Then it cools
quickly and that liquid immediately becomes ice. I’m not talking about “patches” of ice. No. A
Zamboni driver could comfortably travel for miles on the solid sheets that have
developed.
Now, imagine those miles and miles of solid ice sheets
draped over the steep hills and sharp curves that make up the landscape of Georgia , of Atlanta
So that’s the explanation for what you saw on tv or the
internet from the comfort of your homes.
Let me tell you what you didn’t
see.
When Human Beings are faced with challenges, their HUMANITY
shines through. That’s not always a
positive, but MOST of the time it is.
What I believe – fully, completely, 100% - is that human beings are, at
their core, mostly really good. When
people LET them be good, they can be great.
We poor dumb southerners got into our cars early, thinking
that was the responsible thing to do: to
get home and off the road before it gets worse and becomes a problem. I think we were all surprised to see just how
many people shared our thoughts and how much of a problem it had already become. I had a way to go, and knew it would not be
an easy trek. Almost immediately, cars
were sliding. Trucks were sliding. Everyone was sliding. But you know what? Everyone was being patient. Everyone was focused. Everyone was careful. I didn’t see a single accident happen. Because we weren’t clueless southerners at
the wheel, we were simply human beings doing the best we could, mindful of what
was happening with all of the other human beings around us.
I won’t pretend that I didn’t enlist every angel and guide I
could to lend me a hand, but I got pretty far.
On the last major hill, it became clear that I wasn’t going any
farther. After an hour on the side of
the road, and many lame attempts at movement, I grabbed a blanket from the
backseat, secured the car, and began walking (in not exactly appropriate for
the weather shoes) in the direction of home.
I thought that if I could just get a little closer, my husband and kids
could come and get me, but I could manage the entire walk if necessary.
I got about 30 feet before I heard “Ma’am! Do you want a ride?” There stood a teenage boy, about 16 or 17,
offering to rescue me. He was joined by
another. They offered to push my car to
get it going. Then they realized that
wouldn’t be safe, so I accepted the ride and was led to a man waiting in a
front-wheel drive vehicle, ready to save the day. While I sat in the toasty warm backseat, I
learned that he was the uncle of one of the boys. His sister asked him to go pick up his nephew
and friend from their Catholic high school and he saw how many people needed
help along the way.
This man sent those two young men out to push and assist
numerous cars. He coached them on how to
approach the drivers, what to say and how to guide them to safety. Then he carefully drove me to a safe place to
await my husband. He’d have taken me all
the way home if I let him but I didn’t want to put him out any more. I thanked them profusely and gave my gloves to
one of the boys who was rescuing damsels in distress with his bare hands.
I know that when they left me, they surely helped others, because that was where their hearts were focused. That man taught those boys more about humanity than any classroom could ever teach and I told my girls all about them so they, too, could understand that people can be so good.
Once home, I learned that my sister was still out
there. My mother was out there. My sister was nearly home when she found a
safe place to park and walked the rest of the way. My mother turned around so she could come to
my house when it was clear she’d never make it to her own. She’d been in the car for hours, she was
tired, she was hungry. She had to pee,
dammit, so when we realized she was very close to us, my husband and I thought
we’d go meet her ½ mile away and bring her home. We didn’t have to go far to realize we were
in too deep and not going to get to her.
Just as we (husband and children) were about to abandon a second car,
three men in a big truck came to pull us out.
These young men said they were home watching the news and
thought they could go out and help people, so that’s what they were doing. They got us going, we thanked them, and they
went on to help others. A few blocks and
another steep hill later, we realized we weren’t going to reach my mother. So we began to walk back home until a familiar pick up truck came along and
insisted that they drive us home.
Junior, Moses, and their friend-whose-name-suddenly-escapes-me, were
sweet, kind and dedicated to helping anyone who would let them.
Meanwhile, social media was lighting up with people reaching
out that they could help, that they knew someone who needed help, or that they
needed help themselves. My friends
walked through the ice and snow to retrieve a mutual friend who was stranded at
a nearby hotel (with no rooms at the inn) and give her warm respite for the
night. Similar stories popped up all
over my news feed. People who had the
luxury of being home loaded up wagons with water and food and delivered it to
people stuck in their cars.
A facebook page dedicated to those in need during this chaos
took off and people reached out to help wherever they could. Strangers were brought in to become
friends. Businesses kept their doors
open for those seeking shelter for the night.
Connections were made to get people what they needed. Human connections. And isn’t that the point of it all?
Over the next days and weeks, news casters will be talking
about something else. Politicians will
move on to a different crisis for which to shift blame. Snowpocalypse 2014 will fade to a distant
memory and will only come up as a Remember When during the next time. But *I*
will not stop talking about the important part: The Humanity.
I won’t forget the Dentist and the Catholic school
boys. I won’t forget Moses and Junior
and their friend (and I’ll probably remember his name when I finish typing
this). I won’t let my kids forget about
all the human beings who reached out to help other human beings simply because
they could.
For anyone who’s read this far, I hope that you’ll remember,
too. Names aren’t important but the
hearts and the deeds are and if you look beyond the political blame game, you
will see hundreds upon hundreds of similar stories. (see link below for examples) Human connections, helping where they can,
accepting help when they need it.
Humanity at work.
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