Not the time to play blame game­

As the flood waters begin to recede, the finger-pointing kicks in to high gear. It seems that many in our region have now become flood experts, more than willing to share their opinions on just what went wrong and just who was responsible.

And from the constant chatter that fills the conversations, it seems there is ample blame to spread around.

Perhaps it's time to step back and, first, give sincere thanks that this blow from Mother Nature was not worse than it was. Granted, the mark left by record-breaking rainfall will remain for years. And lives will indeed be changed. In some cases, permanently.

Overwhelmingly, I remain fiercely proud of area residents for their actions during this natural disaster. There surely are some unscrupulous individuals who have taken advantage of this situation. But to my limited knowledge, they are few. I heard one instance of a landlord raising the rent on his properties to take advantage of those seeking shelter.

But for the most part, this saga of Mother Nature has brought out heroes of all stripes. It is those acts of pure kindness that will be remembered.

The easiest path following just such an event is to second-guess the decisions made to address this massive problem. With time, those decisions will be honestly evaluated and measures put into place to address a similar circumstance should it repeat in the future.

But for now, it would seem sensible to gather more information before we point a finger of condemnation at anyone or any decision. There will be ample time to evaluate those critical decisions in the near future.

I have heard far too many comments about politicians ignoring specific areas or making decisions that proved costly to some for the benefit of others. To point that accusing finger, you first must consider the enormity of this flood and put our own smaller interests into perspective.

This flooding has brought impacts from inconvenience to total devastation. And our hearts go out to those impacted the most. In turn, we pledge our support to all of those in need.

But before we scorch the coffee shops with accusations of all sorts, we should consider the scope of this problem. If we'll do that, in most instances we'll thank our lucky stars that it was not worse.