The Economy is so bad, that...

My Grandmother – may she be of blessed memory – used to admonish me to “Smile!”

“Smile,” she would say.  And we’d smile and she would say “Things could get worse.”

With the threat of West Nile Virus now widespread throughout the Oak Park / Forest Park / River Forest / Berwyn communities, public health officials urge residents to take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Precautions include wearing long sleeves and pants, limiting time spent outdoors at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active and wearing insect repellent containing DEET, Picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. For your own safety, the safety of your family, friends and neighbors, we urge you to eliminate potential mosquito breeding sites by cleaning roof gutters, storing containers upside down and emptying birdbaths every few days. Click here for more prevention information.

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

—Martin Luther

Tina Valentino is the Editor/Publisher

Down the drain. You won’t find any coverage of the recent flooding in this issue of Neighbors Magazine and some may consider that journalistic malfeasance on my part. I could blame it on the economy and lack of staff; or the simple fact that I was too busy crying in my own flood water to traipse around the suburbs trying to interview and photograph neighbors in varying degrees of devastation. I don’t believe I would have accomplished much except to intrude on their grief as they pondered the shock and enormity of their losses.

Loss of possessions is a relative thing. For some, losing money or power or control leads people to contemplate suicide. For others, the loss of hard-earned appliances like a washer, dryer, hot water tank or freezer in four feet of water or sewage is staggering, particularly as insurance companies are “bailing” on policies and paychecks barely cover groceries and some bills let alone catastrophic replacement costs. For me, the loss was mainly emotional. Seeing the water-logged wooden box of my grandmother’s blurred handwritten recipes; the now defunct baking timer that I stared at during most of my childhood while the cookies she made for me were in the oven; the Christmas ornament that I made in kindergarten (which my grandfather and I cherished like gold bullion for more than four decades); and an entire career of photographs and images that I believed were safely stored away literally going down the drain defies being listed on a FEMA form. Floating audio tape of me reciting the “Our Father” doesn’t even warrant the least bit of sympathy from those neighbors who were evacuated by rescue boat and forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Loss, to any extent, is just a brutally unfair part of life.

After all the bleach, Advil and chiropractic adjustments, claim forms, credit card debt and piles of black trash bags are behind us, we must consider the words of John Ruskin: “Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.” And we must always remember that there are worse things. In the midst of the flood ordeal, I found great inspiration from Facebook friends, of all places. An angry line or two at Mother Nature, a profound quote, an offer to help from someone who hardly knows me—sustained me. And my Facebook friend Jon helped put things in perspective when he posted this message: “Lindsay Lohan, 24, gets her name and face all over the news because she went to jail. Justin Allen, 23, Brett Linley, 29, Matthew Weikert, 29, Justus Bartett, 27, Dave Santos, 21, Chase Stanley, 21, Jesse Reed, 26, Matthew Johnson, 21, Zachary Fisher, 24, Brandon King, 23, Christopher Goeke, 23 and Sheldon Tate, 27, are all Marines that gave their lives for you this week.” Let’s not forget Lance Cpl. Frederik E. Vazquez, 20, of Melrose Park.

Stack high, pray for those who are truly suffering and heed the words of Bias, one of the Seven Sages of Greece: The wise man carries his possessions within him.

According to the United States Weather Service, July was one of the wettest months in recorded history in our part of the country.  Certainly those who suffered through the catastrophic flooding have been hard pressed to keep their possessions in tact.  And the “Economy” is limping along…

What can you do?  One choice is to donate non-perishable food items to one of these food pantries serving our area.

• Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry
  First United Church of Oak Park (Basement)
  848 Lake Street, Oak Park, IL
  www.oprffoodpantry.org
• Feeding Illinois
  Formerly known as the Illinois Food Bank Association
  www.feedingillinois.org
• St. Celestine Catholic Parish Alvernia Food Pantry
  3020 N. 76th Court, Elmwood Park
  www.stcelestineparish.org/Outreach/FoodPantry.htm