We Owls often take time to ponder as we sit watching the human carnival pass by. We observe, and some things are bound to happen. We lose our possessions. We lose our friends and family to death. In time, some of us lose our very awareness to dementia. How we deal with these tragedies is what defines a community.

Loss can come as utterly unexpected as a lightning bolt. We in our part of North Alabama have had our share — and more — of lightning. A strike creases your roof, and then a fire burns everything you knew from childhood to the ground. Or what about the car wreck which demolishes your magnificent, Athens Square display-quality vintage vehicle? This, which cannot be recovered, is a stunning shock. Yet still, it is but a thing, not a life.

People die. Friends pass away. Only now, in the age of social media, do we hear without ceremony about someone’s death. Death was once heralded in personal, hand-written cards which arrived in envelopes with black linings. Through this means we discovered someone we knew was no longer with us. Now, we find out in a sub-comment on a Facebook notice otherwise filled with laughter or irony. Then comes dementia. This disease we have all come to dread due to its seeming broad, random targeting across every social stratum. With dementia, a person simply forgets who they are — and all the people they knew and loved.

How we deal with losses, our own and others, tells a lot about who we are. Most of us, even the most cynical, ask, “Was anyone hurt,” when they hear of a car crash. “The vehicle can be replaced, people cannot,” is the subtext of that question. We send cards and offer any assistance possible to people who came through such a horrific event on the road. As a society, we pass laws to ensure people are mandated to wear seat belts for their own and their passengers’ protection. We hire county engineers to ensure our roads are safe and the traffic controls are effective. Not for nothing do we calculate, then check and re-check railroad crossings’ lights and barriers. Speed kills, be it a train or a car that “can’t wait to get across.”

A community must prevent known problems from taking away our things, our lives and our hopes. If we know that our children are at risk while playing in streets without barriers, we build sidewalks. Better yet, we provide parks. One town, within sight of our nation’s capitol, instituted a policy that has spread across the country. A significant percentage of the land to be used by every housing development authorized in the city limits must remain green space. This responds to studies which show that places to relax, to sit, and to walk, run, and play safely assure not only mental health, but calm everyday society’s frayed nerves. Homes are insured, in part, to where a fire hydrant is located — the better to respond to fires for all residents. Towns show their concern for their own and their children’s futures by having well-trained and -paid first responders. What tragedy, what social turmoil would come about if someone were left lying on the side of the road, unassisted? That is why we have the 911 emergency call number, and the 211 social help number. Each and every social service should ensure they are reachable in any community with the 211 system. In a crisis, few are thinking straight. If all they have to remember is a three-digit phone number, lives can be saved.

No one wants to lose anything. Our family photos charm and reveal fond memories. The thought of saving these can motivate us to support properly paid fire-fighters. Our family’s and friends’ lives have intrinsic value. Indeed, they bring meaning to our lives. So common sense controls are needed to keep us all safe. Our community should mark dangerous swimming areas, make first aid training available, ensure measures for safe gun ownership. These and a host of other preventive measures show we all care for one another.

Lastly, we need to see to ourselves. We need to have proper medical care for each and every one of us. We need recreation facilities, wellness centers and pools to keep active. As we grow older, healthcare is not an option. We as a society need to secure a basic, preventive health program for everyone. No one needs to die alone, uncared for. For that reason, we have stringent requirements for elder care facilities. Why can’t we do as much for all our elderly as we do to protect our children? Even when our parent’s minds aren’t what they once were, they still love and can be loved. We’ve barely begun to help in areas of elder care. We can perhaps ensure no one ever will be homeless, no matter the state of their mind. No matter their means, these least among us can be prepared for, until a cure comes that allows them to live independently until the day they die.