We have had many heroes of Hurricane Sandy and above all are the first responders who did their best to help all those who were in danger.
Then there were those who helped rebuild. It was a time when New Yorkers showed their true mettle and neighbor helped neighbor and stranger helped stranger. For when things were at their very worst we found we were at our very best.
There were others who did their best to restore a certain amount of normalcy and they are the forgotten government workers. I speak of our U.S. Postal Service carriers who worked everyday after Sandy to bring us news and connect us with people who could not reach us by phone in the aftermath of the storm.
Let me tell you of one such carrier who delivers our mail to my job in Mineola. We adoringly called him, “Jim the merry mailman.”
He always has a friendly smile and always ask how we’re doing. After the storm he would come by and drop off our mail and ask how we were. It was rough after the storm because we had no lights or phones and would work with flashlights to help our customers with what they needed to rebuild.
Like the U.S. Postal Service slogan goes, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” That is so true but I believe some of these workers, like Jim, go further and show concern for those on his route and mail carriers like Jim are truly a exemplification of what a mail carrier should be.
Thanks Jim for all that you do.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Glen Oaks Village
