Sturm und Drang

The storm has passed. With only leaves, twigs, and the occasional dead branch down, we've been spared any serious damage.

We've also been spared the crucible that would burn away the superfluous aspects of our life so that we see who we really are. It is said that crises bring out the best and worst in people. What crises actually do is peel away the faux veneer we have each crafted, thus letting us see our true selves. Are we selfish spirits that loot luxuries when external controls are not present? Are we compassionate souls that will put our own welfare aside in order to help another?

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to peel away the veneer. Despite the ease with which fate treated me this past weekend, I still resorted to stealing the neighbor's Sunday paper. Yes, there were two day's worth of papers on their front lawn. Yes, the neighbors had left town with no indication that they might return. Nevertheless, I took something they had paid and I had not -- something they may be expecting when they return. I may have put their schedule for TV watching in peril for the week. I may have deprived them of their desire to keep tabs on Garfield. I may have undermined their ability to stay abreast of news.

So there it is. I have survived as has my property, yet my principles have not. I set aside my moral code just so I can giggle at Dilbert. What would Prince Valiant say?

On the positive side, I did meet three of my neighbors. My kids learned how to rake (having recently moved from a treeless neighborhood). And I cut down a dead tree (albeit a small one) and collected some fallen branches for my neighbor. But all this is overshadowed by my rampant paper looting, for which I am ashamed. As Rex the Dinosaur would say, "I have guilt!"

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Sturm und Drang (SHTOORM oont DRANG) [German, "storm and stress"] noun 1. Turmoil; ferment. 2. A late-18th-century German romantic literary movement whose works typically depicted the struggles of a highly emotional individual against conventional society.