Tough times, good neighbours

It has not been an auspicious beginning to 2022.

With cases of COVID-19 via the Omicron variant surging throughout Atlantic Canada, it is difficult some days to view the year ahead with optimism and hope.

Positivity can seem to be in short supply. But then you hear stories of human kindness and community spirit that are unfolding around us and you realize that acts of generosity often arise out of the ashes of misfortune.

Those are the kind of stories that can keep us going and help us tap into our reserves of resilience and goodwill.

In Glace Bay on Christmas Eve, a two-storey home was significantly damaged by a fire and all the family’s Christmas presents were destroyed.

It was a nerve-wracking scene on a bitterly cold night, with volunteer firefighters having to contend with extreme heat inside the house, as well as icy conditions outside, as the water being used to fight the fire quickly froze on the ground as it fell.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and once the blaze was under control, the firefighters’ thoughts turned to helping the family get some semblance of Christmas back. They offered to donate gifts they had bought for their own loved ones to the family now displaced. While their kind offer was politely declined, the family was no doubt moved by the heartfelt gesture.

In Victoria, N.L., a Christmas Day fire razed the Sommers’ family home, destroying everything Winnie and Lloyd Sommers owned, as well as the two family cats.

“You can’t put a value on what was lost,” said 63-year-old Winnie. The house was where her husband had spent his entire life.

They plan to rebuild on the same site, and meanwhile, their community has rallied to help them move forward, holding fundraisers and dropping off donations of clothing to the couple.

“You can’t believe how good people are,” Winnie told Saltwire Network.

Some senior citizens in Charlottetown can relate.

On Dec. 19, two families took it upon themselves to distribute gifts to the residents of the 96 apartments in the building at 501 Queen St., giving away bags of vegetables in time for holiday meals.

“It was one of the most thoughtful things I have seen done in the building,” said Flora Thompson, who wrote about the act of kindness in a letter to the editor published Dec. 29.

These are worrying and uncertain days during a pandemic that seems to be without end.

And sometimes, the milk of human kindness seems downright curdled.

So, it’s nice to see that even at the worst of times, people can bring out the best in each other, and find ways to care for their neighbours, and even strangers.

Community spirit seems to be a wellspring that keeps replenishing itself, just when we need to draw from it the most.