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September 18, 2008
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September 18, 2008 |
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editorial The best connection of all A few thoughts on connections in the modern world: Many of these connections are electronic. They light up our rooms, fire up our computers, freeze ice in our refrigerators and turn on our TVs. They do more things than we ever imagined. Made with wires and plastic, these connections look shiny and clean. They make pleasant little humming sounds. These connections come with instruction manuals and technical consultants. If we follow the rules, we expect these connections to perform in predictable ways. Except when they don’t — when a hurricane blows through, for example. In that case, we’re forced to fall back on the old-fashioned variety. These connections — we might call them human — are less shiny and clean, far noisier, and almost impossible to predict. They are full of surprises. There are no instruction manuals, no technical experts. Sometimes these connections disappoint, but more often, they don’t. They make us coffee in the morning, listen to our stories and tell us theirs and, if we’re very lucky, in a tight spot they’ll sing and play the piano. So many people deserve thanks for helping us survive this week’s power outage, beginning with the Village employees, who worked long hours to bring back power and keep us safe. Big kudos to Kurt and the gang at the Emporium, who provided coffee and a community meeting place, and to the musicians who lightened our spirits. Thanks to the Nonstop folks for seeing the need for a central place to provide information. Local merchants, such as owners of the BP and Downing’s Hardware that stayed open throughout the outage, showed real commitment. Lots of concerned villagers helped local elders pull through, including the staff at the Senior Center and Friends Care Community. Neighbors moved debris from each others’ yards, friends ran errands, and many, many people stepped up to the challenge. While most of us might prefer that our electronic connections not fail, if they must, what better place could we be? In adversity, this town showed its big heart. While our electronic connections let us down this week, our human ones came through.
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