Taking it to the Streets

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

After an unheard of six straight weeks of snow and cold weather, the news this morning features a man in East Denver who took matters into his own hands. Armed with an ice pick, he started breaking up and clearing his street of the thick ice that remains on all the residential streets in Denver. Neighbors followed his lead and soon they had clean pavement again.

The moral of this story—that we can’t rely on someone else to take care of everything, even (or especially) when that someone else is the government. My friend, Chris, sent the following message and link about a group of citizens who undertook a rescue that official agencies were unable to complete:

“You may have heard about the herd of horses that were trapped for 3 days on a tiny piece of land in wind and rain in the Netherlands a short while ago? They were trapped on a small piece of land, surrounded by water. Their natural instincts kept them from swimming to solid land, from their tiny perch. There were about 100 horses huddled together against the wind and water. The Nation was mesmerized watching this drama as 18 of the horses perished, while others were slowly weakening.
First the fire department, then the Dutch army, tried to rescue them - both efforts were unsuccessful. Then, with a break in the weather, the water level went down and four women hatched a plan to attempt a rescue by luring the horses into the water.
Here's a video of the successful rescue. I was very touched as I watched the video of these magnificent animals being saved. I hope you enjoy this uplifting video.”

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved