Forces Beyond Our Control

One of the conceits underlying the election season is the notion that we have all the answers, the capacity, and, yes, the audacity to solve our collective problems and to deliver the future to some place closer to perfection. That conceit almost always crumbles somewhere between campaigning and governing. Why in an imperfect world should we expect to have perfect governments? Just how imperfect our civilized world can be became clear last week when the “perfect storm,” Sandy, scraped the landscape of its comfort and convenience, compelling all of us up and down the East Coast to contemplate forces beyond our control. What we found was that when something as massive as a thousand-mile storm hits, the only thing we really can control is our own resolve to stick together and do what we can to make sure everyone gets through it together.

Thanks to the “new normal” of freak storms marching through our region with the regularity of… well, Halloween, Newtown, along with communities throughout the Northeast, now has a better sense of what it takes to see people through the worst and to bring relief and support to those who suffer the most. Storm Sandy produced better communication and coordination between state and local emergency operations, and, thankfully, better preparation and precautions by the public at large. Unfortunately, CL&P failed to improve its poor record of power restoration from last year’s storms, leaving so many local homes and businesses in the dark for far too long.

We would like to single out, once again, the many Newtown volunteers who left their own homes at the height of the storm and in its aftermath to help others put in danger by falling trees and wires. Just as the winds and rains were reaching a crescendo Monday evening, for example, firefighters responded to a home having a hazardous electrical problem as a result of fallen wires on Bradley Lane in Sandy Hook. A couple of those volunteers narrowly escaped injury when a large tree branch fell and crushed the cab of their fire truck. The incident demonstrated the high value of the commitment of individuals to the well-being of others, including complete strangers. It is one of the best definitions we have of community. It can be an equally powerful force for us to contemplate in the face of a natural disaster — and it is a force completely within our control.