Endless Rush
Yesterday it snowed in Atlanta. I was lucky to leave the office right after lunch and made it home quickly and safely. However, many of my colleagues never made it home. They spent the night "somewhere". The lucky ones made it home spending 5-8 hours stuck in traffic. Then all that snow froze overnight, making the icy roads completely undriveable. How would these stuck folks get home today? I feel for those who HAVE TO be on the road under such conditions: policemen, public work employees, medical personnel, etc. The rest of us just stay home today (if we were lucky enough to make it home).
Schools and many work places are all closed today, as well as all kind of other public facilities. Nobody's going anywhere. Nobody's in rush to get anywhere. And everybody's okay with it. A forced vacation day - of sort. Which begs the question: When it's not snowing, why do we rush all the time? Why do we put deadlines? Why do we overfill our days? Why do we put this stress on ourselves? Why do we teach it to our children?
Snow days help put everything in perspective. Our daily rush makes absolutely no sense. If I had my wish, I would live in a place where I still need to work every days and kids still go to school - all the same as in our current society - but with one big difference: Everything would be done in moderation and in a slow pace. Family and health and welfare of the people and society and friends and red-wine (and yeah, beer too, of course (and don't forget the sports)) would all be on top of the list - waaaaay before work and money and careers.
Homeless
Last night, after the city stopped (at least our neighborhood), Rachel and I walked down the street to help make sandwiches for the homeless. One of the guys around the table is a homeless himself. I often see him on the bike path - in all kind of weather. I always ask myself what is he doing for the night? Does he sleep? How does he sleep (in this cold)? Where does he get his food from? Where does he do his "business" (ok, that one is pretty obvious, eh?). He's always very friendly. Never asks for money or anything. Just waves and smiles - despite the harsh weather conditions. So last night I wasn't just waving 'hi' at him, we also shared work duties in the sandwiches assembly line. I had to interact with him. It gives you a different perspective of the person AS A PERSON. He's no longer just an item in the landscape, but a real human.
Then we all parted way and we went back home. Where did he go?
Cat
This morning I let Nikita out, trusting that she would not go far. Shortly after I couldn't find her. I found her footsteps in the snow going to the back yard, but I still couldn't find her and she didn't respond to our calling her (usually she comes right away). At those moments, you have the worst thoughts: is she freezing somewhere (how can she not?); did some big animal get her? Etc.
Being the responsible man that I am, I covered my feet with another blanket and sent Rachel outside to find her. She found her up high on a tree she climbed and didn't know how to descend. Lucky for us, we have generous neighbors with the right ladder. So yeah, I found myself climbing high, firefighter style, in the freezing temps, on a shaky ladder, to save the baby. Yes, there was a happy ending to this story.
