Winter changes gears in January, shifting from the long hard acceleration from frost to deep freeze through December and the New Year to the overdrive that powers the season into March. In the double clutch of the long King holiday weekend, the mercury eased up above 32 degrees for a classic January thaw. Ponds and lakes became kettle drums for an unseen timpanist laying rim shots and thundering rolls along fissures in the relaxing ice, striking a spark of anxiety on the cold bare flint of consciousness that settles upon ice fishermen. H2O is a fickle fishing partner in mild winter weather; one moment it delivers fish to you, the next it delivers you to the fish.

We want to trust our elemental underpinnings, so in the thaw we stick to solid ground, which is not supposed to betray us. But it does. When the ground thunders and rolls as it did in Haiti over the past week, the pillar of trust we have in the solidity of a place is the first to topple. In such conditions, even the sanctity and safety of home is a deadly trap. And as we have seen this week, when hundreds of thousands of people discover all at once that the ground itself is a fickle partner in existence, they turn to faith, hope, and the rest of the world for help.

This horrific Haitian tragedy has struck the flint of our compassion and sparked a worldwide response. The intense suffering of innocents on a scale so hard to fathom begs some response from each of us. Many have already given, and many continue to give. If you are still looking for a way to help, many options are available at www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake. Locally, Newtown Congregational Church is hosting a Haitian Dinner & Reggae Band Night, from 6 to 10 pm on Saturday, January 23. Admission is $10 per person, or $30 for the family.