Gray Column: Stepping up and sacrificing

You don't appreciate things like clean streets and electricity until something like snowmaggedon comes along. That's the word I heard someone use to describe the two blizzard of the past week.

But despite the harsh conditions, I was glad to see that sacrifice is still a word we embrace even under the most trying of circumstances.

I'm thinking specifically of people like the power line crews that worked diligently through the storms.

My power went out around 10:00 a.m. the Saturday of the storm. As soon as it went out, I looked outside and saw all the blowing snow and thought there's no way the power is coming on until Monday at the earliest. But I was wrong. The lights were on by 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

I thought about how big a sacrifice it was for the people working on those power lines in blizzard conditions.

I also thought about the folks on the road crews working for VDOT or just the private contractors. It took everything they had to keep the streets passable, including an untold number of plows, truck and construction equipment, but somehow they did it.

You might be thinking they got paid to do that job, so it's really not a sacrifice.

But keep in mind these people have families as well. Yes, it is their jobs and they do get paid, but how many of us would have showed up for work in a blizzard.

The same could be said for the police, fire and hospital personnel that showed up for duty as well. The fact that they were on duty or on call says it all about their level of sacrifice.

One story I received from a reader caught my attention about how little sacrifices mean a lot during adverse conditions.

Ms. Hannah Forbes, who is the program director for Rainbow Station, a daycare facility in Gainesville, did something most of us who are parents can really appreciate.

During the storm Ms. Forbes stayed at her job, by herself, hours after pick up time. She was there taking care of two children waiting on their father to pick them up. The father of the two children was stuck in traffic and with the roads being snow covered there were plenty of accidents to speak of. Evidently the father had seen a car flipped in front of him. I say that to emphasize nothing was moving fast and he wasn't getting to the daycare anytime soon.

Nevertheless, Ms. Forbes stayed at the daycare until the father arrived.

Like I said, only a parent can appreciate Ms. Forbes sacrifice of time. Normally you get the call to come pick up your child or you had better find your emergency contact person to pick them up. Otherwise you are looking at as much as a dollar per minute in late fees.

By the way, Ms. Forbes did not charge the father for the extra time waiting.

Ms. Forbes went well beyond her normal duties, truly deserving recognition for her efforts. No she didn't restore power to a community or clear away snow from miles of streets. She simply sacrificed her time and stayed behind to ensure the safety of a father's children. That may seem small in some folks eyes, but if you have ever been one of those parents trying to pick up your kids in the middle of a snow storm, it's a relief to know folks like Ms. Forbes are willing to sacrifice their time for your peace of mind.

So I say to Ms. Forbes, all the workers who got the power back on and the streets clean and kept us safe during the blizzard, thank you. I sure hope that's the end of our snow storms for this year, but if not, I know there are people in our community ready to step up and make the necessary sacrifices.

Davon Gray works in Washington, D.C., and resides in Woodbridge. Contact him at davongray@verizon.net.