Kindness overcomes disasters

Human spirit prevails over snow delays

Catriona Wells
Wednesday 22 December 2010

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Last week, I spoke to an American woman, whose husband is temporarily based in the UK, about Britain’s humiliation and seeming inability to cope with a few inches of snow.

Her response was to relate a story of how, a few years ago, they had been holidaying in Scotland over the New Year and had got caught up in a major snow storm.

She said that a local family had taken them in and looked after them for two days. Her greatest memory was of their unending kindness and the wonderful porridge oats that they served for breakfast.

Interestingly, she did not mention the complete lack of gritting, the appalling unpreparedness, or the general ineptitude o f the authorities.

Is it not just fascinating how far a bit of old-fashion kindness and good PR can go?

Comments

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May Langton, Bath 2 January 2011, 01:09PM
There is a great deal of sense in this article. People do not grumble about the weather, they grumble about the treatment that they receive. Treat people like sh*t and they will complain, treat them with kindness and they will respond with thanks and compliments
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James Heath 3 January 2011, 01:14PM
I completely agree with the article and the May Langton's comment. People respond to kindness and simply being treated well. Most of the problems at Heathrow could have been avoided if the information and management had been handled better. I had a friend there and they said that the Salvation Army were doing a fantastic job. Why did they mention that? simply because people like and respond well to good things.
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Julia Tring 6 January 2011, 04:37PM
What a lovely heartwarming story, it just shows there are genuine caring people out there in times of adversity.
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Carriane Ward, Skegness 6 January 2011, 05:11PM
That is the spirit all humans should have all year round not when it just comes down to Christmas. But it is a heart catching story. Just shows how much the Goverment only care about the tax they recieve. Shameful really.
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Zoe, Kent 10 January 2011, 01:45PM
How nice to hear such a lovely tale. I have to admit that we all too easily complain about most things in life. But, it appears that sometimes when di saster strikes there are still some of us that really care. My husband has his own car body repair business and it was imperative that he made it into work everyday during the bad weather as people wanted their vehicles back before the Christmas break. It took him hours to get there and back but most of that time was spent helping other motorists out that were stuck, so thank god for kind hearted people.
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James, Cornwall 13 January 2011, 02:14PM
Unfortunatley it appears all to common for humans to adopt the attitude I won't help out as someone else probably will. However I am lucky enough to live in a village where we all look out for each other and it makes life so much more pleasurable.
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