Totally, completely, drowned-rat type of wet that was so bad I could hardly see properly. It was pretty intense, I got caught in some sort of small tornado or something on my way home from work, and had just gotten onto Long when it hit so got hit pretty hard.
A few things came to me in all of this crappy, wintry storm today, which made me think.
1. Not one of those assholes in their nice warm cars were willing to give me a break to cross roads, instead they crawled slowly forward so I couldn’t cross and I had to get wetter waiting for a gap.
2. Once you are wet, it stops mattering how much more wet you get. You have to just embrace the rain and smile, because there’s nothing else you can do really.
3. I got wet knowing that there was a microwave huggie and hot bath and wine and chocolate when I got home, but the streetkids I passed whose only blankets had gotten soaked had to get through the storm and night to follow without anything.
My running buddy made a comment the other day that really made me think. She said that every time the weather is bad instead of thinking about what a pain it is, she always thinks about how many people are having to battle the elements on the street, and she was wondering what we could do to help. For one thing, I’m going to do a bit of a closet clean and dig out some old tops and jerseys, and take it with me when I go in on Thursday. I always see a group of kids, who today asked if I had any spare blankets, so I will take them some stuff on my way home. Small thing, but at least that’s a few more kids out there who are a bit warmer this week.
My next plan is to find out where the nearest soup kitchen in my area is, or church group or shelter, and I’m going to do a bit of a drive for jerseys and blankets. Hell, maybe I’ll add food stuff to the box as well. Winter Warmer drive, I like the sound of that.
At the end of the day, I couldn’t prevent getting wet, and I couldn’t change the way those asshole motorists acted, but I can change someone’s life a little bit, so something good has come out of getting caught in the rain.
Talking of which… I just couldn’t resist ending off with this gem…
Yeah. I gotta get my a into g and do a cupboard clean. I can’t imagine how people are surviving. Literally.
I was chatting to my maid this morning, and she was saying it breaks her heart to think of people who don’t have even a shack or some sort of cover.
That was quite something – Debra, who has so little, still worries about those who have nothing. Yet so many of us who have so much can’t even really see those who have little or nothing. It seems the richer and higher up the food chain we get, the less in touch with the world we get.
I guess it’s like any habit, we often feel bad and worry about these things, but it’s not always that easy to actually do something. Which is why I am going to Just Do It now instead of talking and thinking about it, and get myself into a helping frame of mind.
P.S. Doing some research on soup kitchens and shelters across CPT, perhaps we bloggers can then do posts on ways to help this winter or something. Will keep ya posted.
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