The Going Gets Tough

Notes of concern…
Jack Blair


MOTHER NATURE TRIMS THE TREE

“Tis the season to be jolly” the song says. Bah humbug! As I write this column I have been without power for seven days and have no expectation of a near term solution.

I have talked with Fema, with the Massachusetts emergency management folks, left a message (unreturned) for the man in charge in Winchendon, my insurance broker, my insurance company, and my electrician.

But my home is intact. My family is healthy and happy. And I am not unaware I have much for which to be thankful.

Mother nature threw us a curve. She decided she would trim the tree this year. Actually, she decided she would trim a lot of trees.

Even through the horror of the ice storm carnage one could see beautiful crystals flashing in the sunlight, tree limbs encased in white, homes looking warm and inviting because there was candlelight everywhere.

For a time, we were required to live without all the conveniences to which we have been accustomed. We needed to be resourceful. And we were reminded of how so many people in the world live like this, or worse, every day in their lives.

I traveled once to a remote village in Ecuador, many hours from a town. The people lived in one-room huts. They ate modestly. They had short life spans because there were no doctors. A missionary visited them once a month.

These people greeted me enthusiastically. Not one person was grumpy. The children were well dressed and immaculate. All functions were held in the church they had built. Their lives were very different from ours. They made the best of it.

On many trips to the Republic of South Africa my drive from the airports in Johannesburg and Cape Town took me past miles and miles of lean-to huts. People lived under metal slabs leaning against a tree or fence. The only modernization obvious was the Port-0-Potties the government had supplied and these were lined up, side by side, for miles. There were no trees because they had all long since been cut down for firewood.

These people were not happy. But they accepted their lot in life and tried to make the best of it.

In India last year I witnessed people urinating and defecating on the sides of the roads. We never came to a stop that a young woman didn’t approach our car with a small infant in her arms asking for money. I went past an entire village where the huts were made with dried cow dung.

So if you are without electricity for a week or so, cannot watch your favorite television program or email your friends, look at it as if it is just a little taste of how most of the world lives all of the time.

Moving from our little world in Winchendon and keeping in mind the less fortunate, lets consider our current national crisis of confidence in our leaders, our institutions and our economy.

I quote George Shultz, reknowned college professor and former secretary of state, in remarks he made to the columnist Peggy Noonan (who writes for the Wall Street Journal). Every one should put these on the refrigerator and reflect on them each day:

“There is ingenuity, flexibility and strength” in the national economy.

“We are so blessed with human talent and resources” in our labor force."

“The American people themselves have intelligence, integrity and honor”

“We should experience ‘the current crisis’ as a gigantic wake-up call. We've been living beyond our means, both governmentally and personally. We have to be willing to face up to our problems. But we have a capacity to roll up our sleeves and get down to work together."

As Schultz reminds, people everywhere in the world want to come to America. The richest people in the world want to be treated by American doctors when they could go anywhere. Parents from around the world want their children educated in this country.

Even in the current situation we remain the strongest and best and we are guided by ideas of brilliant men who gave us a plan, a Constitution that has served us well throughout our history.

If we are true to those principles and refocus on the eternal verities of life we will survive to see America reach new pinnacles in history.
As another Christmas song suggests, we want to be people of good will!