Written By Sherwood Kohn
The cool, clear air of autumn has for some time now evoked mixed emotions. In the days before 9/11 and Katrina, one looked up at the dry, blue sky, smelled the coming fall breezes, and felt a sense of calm relief after the heat of August. It was an almost unalloyed feeling of well being, a phasing down in preparation for the cold season to come.
Things are more complex now. The attack on New York’s World Trade Center and the hurricane’s devastating assault on New Orleans have fragmented the simplicity of fall. It is not enough now to subside into the warm embrace of the harvest, with all of its colorful plenitude. A glance at a cloudless sky now provokes not only a sense of the November Day of Thanksgiving, with all of its feelings of gratitude for our well-being, but also sad memories of those end-of-summer catastrophes that cost our nation dearly.
And then there is the guilt one feels at having escaped the onslaughts that killed so many people at both ends of the country, and the opposite: an awareness of the good fortune that enabled us to escape those calamities. Plus the anger that many of us feel at the failure to cope in a timely fashion with the human tragedy inflicted on the Gulf states.
We, in the shelter of Carroll County, away from the paths of devastating hurricanes and (so far) the attacks of terrorists, are so very fortunate. Most of us have food and shelter, the love of family and friends, cars to drive (so far), and as many creature comforts as we can afford.
We can also take heart at the response of our community to the human suffering in the Gulf states. As this is written, the Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County, an umbrella organization encompassing,
among other groups, the Alliance Faith Team Members, the Carroll County public schools, and the Brethren Service Center of New Windsor, are organizing efforts to send packages of essential personal and cleanup items to hurricane victims. And the Community Foundation of Carroll County and Home Resource Services is seeking donations of money, clothing, and medications, as well as volunteers for disaster relief. More, it is certain, will be forthcoming.
Autumn may have become more complex, but one simple, reassuring thought stands out: When life is threatened, people are capable of heroic outpourings of compassion and generosity.
