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Real Answers™
jd34
Copyright: © ©2006 Jill Darling
680 words

FLOODED WITH HELP AFTER NORTHEAST RAIN

By: Jill Darling

Cotton balls suspended on a sky-blue backdrop float endlessly over the water that mirrors their images. Iridescent green dragon flies freely chase among the cattails that fringe the 5-acre pond behind our house. Chirping wrens fly between two willows among the maples and hemlocks as I glide through the water at my leisure pace. It's my day off and it's time to relax. 

Twelve miles away, our friends Bob and Pat have the day off, but it's not a relaxing time at their pond. Their home sits in the center of a pond that appeared overnight from water spewing over the banks of a creek from the swelling Susquehanna River. Muddy water fills their basement and threatens to rise.  

They live west of Binghamton, New York, in Apalachin, one of many towns on national weather stations reporting Northeastern flooding. Our area had a week rain. The last two days have been beautiful, except for overnight rain with more thunder showers in the forecast.  

Highways and businesses are flooded. Unnecessary travel is not allowed. Some homes have two feet of water on the first floor. Water is at the top of some road signs. A hospital had to be evacuated. The river has crested and it's a matter of waiting to assess the damage. 

In addition to dealing with the loss of possessions, some people are vulnerable to another kind of drowning: despair. People can feel hopeless, raw and isolated. When discouragement prevails, it's the care and support of family, friends and volunteers that keep individuals from drowning in sorrow. Strong ones who aren't dealing with their own crises can provide stamina and loving support, like a rescue net for the mind.

Just knowing that people are standing by to help is reassuring. Even though clean-up efforts or donations of food and supplies seem meager compared to the devastation, simple acts of kindness go a long way.  

After witnessing the flooding in the Binghamton area, Elizabeth Cohen wrote in her Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper column: "What I remember about the day after the floods are the emergency crews, the fire department workers, the Department of Transportation crews, the state troopers and good neighbors. The people who came out at dawn to help other people escape houses turned into islands. Many of these people were volunteers, yet they acted like they were on the clock. They were right there, blocking off dangerous roads, directing traffic, helping out any way they could. And they were everywhere, doing what had to be done. Helping people. And it made me feel something you are supposed to feel this time of year: I felt proud to be an American. These are the folks who make it a great country: the volunteers, the people who give selflessly." 

Doing for others is a two-way blessing for both the recipient and the giver, producing warm feelings all around. The Bible in Romans 12 talks about loving one another with brotherly affection, giving precedence and showing honor to one another. It mentions the importance of contributing to the needs of others, never lagging in zeal and in earnest endeavor. We are to be flexible to adjust to people and things and give ourselves to humble tasks. We can comfort our neighbors by rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. 

One woman in our church has dealt with two floods to her business by the river within the last 15 months. The first time her newly opened business was ravaged by water half way up the wall on the lower floor. Church members shoveled silt out of the building with snow shovels and cleared the parking lot. This time the water is higher. Our church family helped out the last time and we'll be there again.  

Even though sloughing through muck and mire is not fun, it's a humbling task that will reap rewards. Just helping out friends in tough times is gratifying. This 4th of July holiday, we won't be spending time relaxing in our pond; we'll be helping our friends get rid of theirs.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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