I spent a good deal of
the great North Texas Icemaggedon of 2013 reading, writing, cooking, and
hanging out on Facebook. I was comfortable in my tiny home with my fire going
and heater keeping the indoors at a balmy 64 degrees. There was just too much
ice and an inability to remove it in a reasonable time. The new word we all
learned: cobblestone ice. I actually had to get in it Monday for jury
duty...not fun at all and I fully understand anyone who didn't want to leave
their house and get out in it (my mom did have to go to work, and I finally
understood her terror at driving in that ice!).
The chatter on Facebook
was hilarious. Cabin fever after spending two days with their children, which
then extended into three, then four. Videos of ice falling off of buildings and
onto cars was tragic. Lots of people decorated for Christmas (my
decorations are in my very cold garage, so I'm STILL not decorated!). Everyone
was cooking and taking pictures of their food. I did it. I was lucky to have a
very well stocked pantry.
Then there were the
pictures of the grocery stores. Empty shelves everywhere, especially the bread
isles. Now, I've always joked that storms mean a French Toast panic because all
the milk, eggs, and bread get bought up. That's usually all I ever say when
people post these pictures. Many people had quite a bit more to say, though,
usually making fun of all the people panicking about not having food and how
stupid they were to do that...and why bread?
It didn't really hit me
until I finally got back to school after my jury duty stint how important that
bread could be to people. As I was talking to my students before school started
this morning, several of them mentioned just how glad they were for the ice to
be gone because they were able to eat more than sandwiches. One young lady in
particular spent the entire ice storm taking care of her little brothers and
sisters because her mother stayed at the nursing home where she works as a
nurse aid to care for the residents. Before the storm hit, her mother only had
time to grab a few items at the store, including three loaves of bread. This 17
year old young lady was responsible for making sure her four siblings had
something to eat from Friday until Monday, when her mother finally was able to
come home. They went through all the bread during that time. This family is
poor and heavily relies on other sources for meals, including school breakfasts
and lunches, and meals prepared at the church on Sundays. That’s six extra
meals missing for five people they were not anticipating.
Who really anticipated
that, on Thursday night, most North Texans wouldn't really be able to leave
their homes until sometime late Monday? While I was finding item after item to
cook and having a grand ol' time of it, with many leftovers for the rest of the
week, there were people who only had those loaves of bread, cartons of eggs, or
milk. Not everyone has the money to have more than just a weeks' worth of food,
especially families who have to make food go just a little bit further during
the month of December, in anticipation of their children being out for the two
week Winter Break and will no longer have access to breakfast and lunch at
school. If you looked at the closure lists, one always sticks out for me: Meals
on Wheels. What do those people who benefit from meals being delivered to them
do when it gets icy? Do they have something "a little extra" in their
pantry to tide them over? Do their neighbors watch out for them? Or, do they
just not eat? The human body can go several days without eating, but your
system needs nourishment to keep the organs running properly. There's a reason
for the saying "fuel your body, feed your mind."
This takes me back to
those photos of the bread isles that were all over Facebook and other news
sites. Some of the comments were extremely snarky and judgmental. Not thinking
about others and their situations is the ultimate in self-righteousness, demeans
the human spirit, and takes away basic humanity. I'm not trying to turn around
and judge those people, but the situation does beg to question: what right do
you have to make assessments on other people when it comes to food? For my
young lady, those three loaves of bread were what kept her family fed for four
days. I'm sure that there are thousands of other similar stories like this all across North Texas. Should that be criticized?