Cause and Effect?

It was quiet in the church. Sparsely attended, too. Then a whisper came to me from a man sitting six feet away. He said, “The snow falls far from the cloud.” Puzzled, I shrugged my shoulder in question toward him. He pointed to the ceiling (or sky I guess) and repeated his whisper: “the snow falls far from the cloud.”

At that time the processional hymn sounded and the congregation stood to sing. Our whispered/gestured exchange was interrupted until after the worship service.

After the service we gathered for coffee and greeting. The whisperer was no where to be seen. I looked in adjacent rooms but still did not spot him.

For days his message – the snow falls far from the cloud – remained with me. It haunted my thoughts and eventually ebbed from memory.

I had never encountered this phrase in the Bible or tomes of philosophy. Nor in volumes of poetry. My search continued for years. The niggling memory of the whisper set my mood upon entering church services for a long time. Still does!

Over the years I felt sure I had learned what the phrase meant. Later I doubted my certainty. It continued to cast shadows for a very long time. Finally, I came to an inner agreement on its meaning. I share it with you now.

The snow falls far from the cloud is an analogy. It refers to the scattered flight of snowflakes, their falling and drifting far from their origin, carried by wind currents miles and miles from their source. The analogy connects with cause/effect/result in that what happens is the result of some other action that also had a referent cause. An example:

A nation at war relies on its military personnel to wage the actions of war. The events contained within the war have an effect on the military personnel. Those effects are carried throughout the life of the fighting man and woman, shaping ideas, emotions, and reactions. The outcome of those lives are not always pleasant. Think about this statement found at www.facebook.com/TugsArt:

“One serviceman waking up homeless on Christmas morning is a tragedy. Hundreds of them is a disgrace.”

This is not a political statement in my opinion. It is a statement of the reality of war and its cost to the men and women who are called upon to serve in it. Unintended consequences of wartime service are very real. When the battles are done and history has had time to define the results, real human beings continue to live with the physical and mental scars of their efforts. Those scars have deep roots.

I recall meeting a very bright guy at a coffee counter – Dunk’in Donuts – early mornings before work. He and others gathered each day to drink good coffee and read the paper. Then we discussed what we had read and learned to laugh at the foibles and tragedies of the news. This particular fellow was serious minded, deep thinking, and usually quite adept at crafting statements that stuck with me through the day. His name was Charlie.

Several times over ensuing months Charlie was absent from our coffee klatch. One day I asked if anyone knew what was keeping Charlie from our morning brew fests. The answer: he had serious health issues caused by mental anguish acquired during the Viet Nam War. It turned out Charlie was college educated, drafted into the Army in the mid-1960’s, was shipped to Viet Nam and was trained as a medic on a helicopter crew assigned to evacuate the injured, dying and dead.

Charlie was a poet before his service in Viet Nam. After his stint he was a philosopher searching for answers. Answers that would give him peace from cradling injured servicemen he was taking from battle to the MASH units. All too often those injured men died in his arms screaming in terror and pain.

It changed Charlie. His life was no longer his own. It now belonged to the terror of those lost lives he witnessed in final moments.

Charlie never held a job. He never went on to graduate school. He lived out his life in a low income apartment subsidized by both the Veterans’ Administration and his dad. And then his brother. Until finally Charlie could take no more pain and ended his life with an overdose of pain killers and anti-depressants.

The snow falls far from the cloud. That statement now has clear meaning to me.

Nelson Mandela had something more upbeat to offer:

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

God I hope most of us respect and enhance the lives of others. As much as we can. The Charlies among us deserve that outcome for their sacrifice.

December 12, 2013