*A sure, if not jolly, sign that a Hyde Park residential construction project has been around a while: The red Christmas bow on the Port-a-let.
*There are, of course, all manner of Christmas-week rituals – most of which seem to involve malls and the spirit of last-minute shopping. Then there’s that occasional, very special, very moving example of ultimate gift-giving.
This one happened last week and involves man at his best – putting his ingenuity and generosity to work in common cause with nature. In this case it took the form of three ultra lights guiding 17 whooping cranes safely in their Wisconsin-to-Central Florida migration. There’s no more important gift than life to the vulnerable, although eliciting a smile and a tear at the same time is also pretty precious.
*Holiday hero: Would that the words “car jacking” and “Christmas time” never shared a context. But they did recently. And if it wasn’t for one brave man, Jason Sorrow, coming to a would-be victim’s aid, the results could have been tragic – not just frightening. While a crowd kept its distance and watched a screaming woman struggle with a carjacker in a Kash n’ Karry parking lot, Sorrow jumped in to foil the act and helped hold the assailant for police.
Hopefully, there’s no next time. But if there is, then Sorrow’s actions will have been a graphic example of how one person can, indeed, make a difference.
Sorrow’s exploits are also a reminder of what a real hero is. The term is woefully demeaned in our society, especially in athletic arenas. Real heroes are few and far between – but one was surely in that Kash n’ Karry parking lot last week.
*Here’s hoping everyone has had a very happy holiday so far and, more to the point, here’s hoping everyone had a very Merry CHRISTMAS.