There are times when the world conspires to make our lives more difficult. This past weekend, when the city was coated with a thick layer of snowfall, we were provided with another one of those events, but it was one which also shows the good in people.
The list of good people includes the fine family who pushed my poor little car free at the Gallagher Centre after the Remembrance Day ceremony. They deserve a note of appreciation because if it wasn't for them, I would likely still be parked in the lot, spinning my wheels in vain as I attempted to get free. I didn't get the opportunity to properly thank them, since in this situation momentum is king and every time I stopped I got stuck anew. So thank you, nice people, whoever you are, may you never get stuck in a big pile of snow yourself.
But then, I was far from the only car which had merged with the snowbank and was unable to escape. So any roving person who spent their day pulling unfortunate souls from the ditch deserve some appreciation for their gifts to the city as a whole. Not all of us can drive trucks, and most days that's fine, but then you get a massive snowstorm that strands us in our much lower and less snow-ready vehicles in lots, driveways, and unplowed streets where they struggle to get free.
The snowfall brought out the best in a lot of people, whether they were helping clear out driveways for their neighbors or if they were just allowing people to briefly borrow a shovel. There were people in need throughout Yorkton, and there were other people who were able to meet that need and often do so without expecting much at all in return. It was just one of those moments where people knew what had to be done, and what their neighbors lacked which had to be accounted for by other means.
I did benefit more than I gave this time around, and I can admit that. My shovel wasn't handy and if I tried to pull anyone out of a snowbank we would just have more cars in a snowbank, it wouldn't have ended well. Even knowing that, I know that one day I'll probably actually be of some use to someone who is having a similar minor crisis, and I'll try to be useful then. I think that is just something people need to aspire to be, useful to others around them who are having some sort of crisis, whether it's due to the weather or something else entirely.
And people who were useful made the city a better place all around. As the snow leaves the streets and life steadily inches towards normality again, it's time to appreciate those people who actually helped the city function as well as it possibly could over the recent weekend. It's a minor thing, leaving a parking lot, or just getting into your house in some cases. It remains something that needs to be done, by everyone, and it was just a large scale example of problems that happen every day. People need help for all sorts of different reasons, from the practical down to even their own personal or emotional crisis. Anyone who helps them can make an untold amount of difference.
I haven't got much, but I give this column to all the people who step up and give their time, energy, fuel, or whatever was necessary to assist another. No matter the size of the contribution, they were actions that make the world better.
