Friday, December 7, 2007

Good Samaritans

There is at least one good Samaritan in the neighborhood I live in. I have been the recipient of his/her generosity several times over the past few years. The Samaritan(s) in my neighborhood come armed with snowblowers or shovels.

Yesterday I got home early from work, (sick) and quickly shoveled the 3 inches of snow off my sidewalks, then went inside and curled up for a nap. I was awakened around 4:00 as the neighbors got home and fired up their snowblowers. After a while I realized that I wasn't going back to sleep off the fever, so I got up and dressed to go shovel again. My front walk had been snowblown! I know because I took another 2 inches or so off the walk leading from my front door down to the sidewalk. I also shoveled the end of my driveway. That is all I ever shovel off of it because it is in horrible shape, big dips and dives and lots of ground upheaval underneath. This morning when I went out to head into work, someone had come by again and snow blew a path to my car door.

To all you good Samaritans out there, thank you.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Mall Shooting

I was going to write a little about video games today, but then one of life's tragedies happened. The shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Nebraska. This mall is about a mile from where my parents live. When I was a young teen I would walk to and from the mall as there was no bus service that far out. We were not even in the city limits at the time.

I have not seen a list of the victims yet, but I have not received any calls from grieving friends, relatives, or co-workers. For some strange reason, I am one of the first ones people call. I cannot do anything for these people but be there, hold their hand, and sometimes cry with them. Somehow this comforts them, so I do it. I had a counselor describe this grieving I do with others as empathic. He liked to have me around in bad situations as well. Perhaps on some level I am empathic and perhaps I do siphon off part of their pain. I know there is no scientific proof of this. I just know what happens. Since I have not been called to someone's house, or hospital room to just be with them, I trust that all those I know are safe. They are safe but feeling the grief and shock that all of us in Omaha are feeling.