keeping the darkness at bay

"I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." 
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit)

Be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14

New York City recently had some of the worst flooding in the city’s history. It was surreal to see once gridlocked streets waist-deep in water. The rain transformed the landscape in an almost unrecognizable way. There were parts of Brooklyn that looked like Venice. 

I spend most of my time in the city in a neighborhood called Hell’s Kitchen. It has a famous cross street (42nd street) which almost cuts the island of Manhattan in half. 42nd and 9th Avenue is one of those places that tends to flood badly when it rains. It’s a disaster. And what happens on Ninth Avenue never helps. Ninth Avenue has been in a state of perpetual construction for as long as I can remember. I do not have a memory from the last 18 years where some sort of construction was not happening on that street.

As the rains were coming down, I looked out the window to see the intersection completely flooded with water. Cars were at a crawl, pedestrians were getting drenched, and the traffic was a nightmare. The police were trying to direct the traffic, but 42nd and 9th were havoc. 

Then I saw something remarkable.

A man took off his shoes, rolled up his jeans, and walked into the middle of the intersection, blocking the traffic. He had some sort of rake or broom in his hands. People started losing their minds. Cars were honking, police were yelling, and yet he gestured in such a way as to say, "Give me a minute here." Now I have seen tons of folks block traffic before, but this was different. He seemed completely rational and non-threatening to the people driving past. 

I noticed that the water went way past the point at which he had rolled up his jeans, well above his knees. He began to maneuver the stick and work at something below the surface of the water. And then after what appeared to be 5 minutes, a kind of miracle happened. The water began to recede. Like a giant bath emptying slowly, the water began to seep away. As it turns out, trash from overflowing bins had clogged the drains in the intersection. While cars honked, people cursed, and police screamed, this man cleared the trash away in the middle of the storm. 

I ran down to the street to find him and thank him, but he was gone. Traffic was flowing at a much-improved pace by then. The commute of thousands of people was changed by this anonymous, selfless man.

I reflect on that every time I walk past that intersection. 

In the storm, meteorologists offered warnings and opinions. 

Climate activists pointed to the need for policy changes.

It was yet another reason for some to leave New York.

But for one man, it was an opportunity to do something about the way things were. 

It wasn’t heroic, and he didn’t go viral on TikTok. He just waded into the middle of the mess. But on one of the worst days in the city’s history, one man’s small act of sacrifice and kindness changed what happened in one of the busiest intersections in the world.

When I think about the men we need in the world today, I think about that man. A man who saw a need and met it. A man who did something while everyone else complained and looked on. I can't help but imagine how different things would be if there were men like this everywhere today. Men formed to respond. Men who rise up and don’t shrink back. Men who keep the darkness at bay, one intersection at a time.

The truth is, most of the things that will change our lives are not that dramatic. They are just small moments to act when others don’t, to wade in at the least convenient point, to remember when others forget.

Desmond Tutu said, "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." 

Small acts of kindness and love, little bits of good woven together over time. This is how a generation of men will overwhelm the brokenness of the world.

Every man longs to keep the darkness at bay, yet it turns out it's easier than you think.

Kind, normal, loving men meeting the needs in front of them.

This is how the light comes in.

I'll see you in the middle of the intersection fellas.

Cheers.

Jon.