My day started out with a push of the door with a little bit of resistance. Apparently, due to snow drifts, the pile of snow just met the door. Donned in layers of apparel, I surveyed the terrain and observed the daunting task ahead of me. I took off with my trusty shovel of 4 years and I dug in.
As I finished the mandatory clearing of the sidewalk I saw a car go by. The man driving looked familiar and I wondered if it were indeed who I thought it was. A minute later I noticed the same car at the corner of the block trying to navigate a turn onto a "backstreet" running parallel to a main thoroughfare which was also backed up with stuck cars. I walked over to the car with my shovel to try to give him some assistance. As he got out of the car he made a remark about the snow. I made a comment indicating that I knew him and I revealed myself to him from my makeshift ski mask.
Lesson: You never know when someone you've met will come to your assistance.
Because the main street was blocked off due to inoperative cars, other cars began to turn down my block to take the backstreet. Unfortunately conditions were no better (due to M.I.A. snow plows) and they began to get stuck as well. I proceeded to help a few of them. After digging out one gentleman, he pushed his hand with some money in it to me. I told him to keep it. He said, "I can't give you something?" I told him to have a happy New Year.
Lesson: Life is more than just money. Helping your fellowman in distress promotes a strong community.
But ultimately the queue of cars could not get off of the block due to "the white van."
At some point doing all of this a white cargo van, with rear wheel drive (and incompetent driver) got stuck at the same corner; making the turn onto the secondary road. He was there with another man trying to dig out snow from the tires. I walked over with my shovel and began to help dig out. The man told me to wait and to be careful because he didn't want my plastic shovel to scratch his new van. At that point I picked up my shovel and went on to clear the street behind for the waiting cars once they got moving.
Lesson: You can't help everyone.
I cleared most of the loose snow that the cars were getting stuck in once they yielded at the stop sign. The snow plows had not come through and there were none in sight, so I did what I could.
Lesson: You cannot depend on government to take care of you. You need to take the necessary steps to do what you can for yourself.
20 minutes. 30 minutes. 40 minutes passed. The driver of the white van was making very few attempts and at one point he stopped altogether and was talking on his cell phone. Offers to drive the van, for him to work faster, and to make more attempts were refused.
After about 1 hour, the first car behind made an attempt to go around in the space I cleared to the side of the white van. They made it and then so did the other waiting cars.
Lesson: Never let an incompetent leader deter your progress.
After that I continued to the driveway, where drifting snow created snow banks close to 2 feet. At that depth it looked impossible but I kept going at it using my "take some of the top" technique. Before I knew it, the job was complete.
Lesson: With a big job in front of you, sometimes you need to chip away at daunting tasks
After each section of snow I looked ahead to see what was left to do, in order to prepare myself for the next step.
Lesson: Keep your eyes on the goal.
After clearing out one last car I walked back past "the white van," which had now been stuck for over 2 hours. The driver got my attention and tried to say he needed my help to shovel out a space for him to park his van, since he could not move. I looked ahead and saw my neighbor who just started shoveling his driveway and told the van driver that I need to help my neighbor.
I'm a bit sore now, but enjoyed helping others today and embrace the lessons of the day.
