Now might be a great time to take a moment and appreciate just how strong and persevered the people of Goshen County truly are.

Winter is something we of course don’t necessarily look forward to, but it certainly isn’t something we are afraid to face; especially when it shows how powerful or even painful it truly can be.

Everyone around here is obviously acclimated to the cold. We are used to it; we are typically prepared for it and we just bust out our shovels and plows so we can get on with business.

That being said let’s talk for just a minute on the recent sub-zero temperatures everyone once again had to face, and why we could argue that the people of Wyoming, or even Goshen County are some of the strongest people alive.

It truly doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, when winter decides to get cruel and reveal how cold she can really be, sub-zero temperatures are not for the faint of heart.

Going further, no matter how many times you have had to deal with twenty-five or more below zero, there may actually be no getting used to it in the long run.

It’s just something we are familiar with, and deal with as best we can when it arrives.

In recent weeks, chances are a fair number of us undoubtedly experienced some hitches that often come when the temperatures drop really low.

Cars need to be jumped, batteries might need to be replaced and electric heat sources need to work so much harder.

For those of us that have had to deal with a burst pipe and then flooding, my absolute condolences. Once you have to solve that kind of problem while feeling like it’s Antarctica outside, you do everything you possibly can to ensure that it never happens again.

This is when the old remedies of letting our sinks trickle, and just cranking up the heat comes into play. Now we would rather run up a hefty utility bill just so we don’t have to deal with the misery, and expensive issue of a broken pipe.

Once again the power of winter, right? Now she’s dipping her cold fingers right into our bank accounts for cryin’ out loud!

And that’s not even as tough as it gets.

If your car struggled to start, your doors were refusing to open and your pipes wanted to malfunction; think for a second of what our farmers and ranchers had to go through.

While most of us went ahead and plugged in the car and then headed inside where it’s warm, those whose livelihoods are affected do not get such a break.

Quite the contrary, this is when the boundless amounts of essential and/or expensive equipment have to be sustained along with ensuring the survival of livestock. When it comes to temperatures that can unequivocally freeze your hands off, how serious can things get with everything that comes from maintaining a farm or ranch?

There’s no hiding from it, there’s no getting away from it and there certainly is no way around it. The only thing to do is bundle and toughen up, then get out there and take care of business.

This may also be the perfect time to mention plumbers and electricians when it gets that cold. Remember when the power goes out or the pipes erupt, who are we going to call? Who has to exit the warm confines of their own home, and go help another who desperately needs it in probably the most miserable of conditions?

Exactly.

Once again, maybe it’s something we never truly get used to. If anything sometimes the older we get, the harder it can be to deal with.

If we are talking about infants, older folks, or those who may have certain health problems sub-zero temps can unquestionably be dangerous.

All of that being said, this is when some of our more able-bodied residents may have to do the right thing. What this means, is we may at times have to go out of our way to help someone more vulnerable.

Don’t even ask. If your elderly next-door neighbor has a foot of snow in their driveway and its deathly cold outside, go out of your way for a bit and help them out. This way, they remain warm and safe, while your conscience will be totally clear.

There are more examples of this while we’re at it. Our elders of course are number one on the list to help and protect, but there are others who may need help too.

If you know of a young single mother with small children, do the same for her. Don’t let her have to manage a toddler while having to scrape off her car in the blistering cold. Merely take a minute and go clean off her car for her. She will appreciate it.

Once again it is the small acts like this that get us through difficult moments, and Goshen County is no exception to seasonal problems. These small acts don’t and shouldn’t have a thing to do with political stance, faith, or social class. We do them just because it’s the right thing to do, plain and simple.

The most humbling part is there’re definitely Goshen residents that benevolently went out of their way to help others during those bitter-cold few days. Don’t worry, this quirky reporter saw first-hand several examples of residents helping each other out whether they knew each other or not. 

We are once again talking truth and facts here folks. With that, this truly is what makes people of Goshen County some of the strongest, most compassionate people alive.

Let us reiterate that one more time. We didn’t say in the district, in the state or in the country. We said alive, and that is the absolute truth.

That is something to be enormously proud of this day and age, when self-centered entitlement still seems to be running rampant. 

Remember this is being written by a man who was once told by an NYC police officer in the middle of summer to “f*** off” when civilly asking where the nearest subway was. He knows courage, strength and compassion when he sees it; and it’s alive and well right here, right now.

Don’t let that change.