A Neighbor in Need and A Sad Day for West 12th Road

Like all of you, we are all busy still recovering from the ravages of Hurricane Sandy's storm surge of last October.

Like all of you we are all sotted with an intense anxiety regarding what additional financial hardships will face us as the premium increases mandated by the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 are getting ready to bite us all in the rear end very shortly.

Like all of you, we are all busy trying to get ready for our first "real" post-Sandy Christmas celebration with our families.

I guess you could say the basic idea of our existence is that, like all of you, we are all busy dealing with what we consider the important things in life just to ensure we get by.

But there is a much deeper and meaningful "basic idea of our existence" that applies to issues much more important than just "getting by" which is often forgotten by many of us as we try to deal with the rapid pace of our lives.

Recently, all of us here on West 12th Road received an unwelcome reminder of that deeper and more meaningful purpose to our lives.

Late yesterday afternoon our neighbor, Mike McLoughlin, retired to his residence on West 12th Road, sat down in his bedroom and quietly passed from this life at the young age of 51 when his heart stopped beating.

Sometime thereafter Mike's wife, Susan, came upon him and despite heroic efforts to resusitate him on the part of family, friends, and responding EMS staff,  there was nothing anyone could do.

I write of this for many reasons.  Perhaps it is the way in which I can best express my grief, but more importantly, as a tribute to the kind of individual Mike was.

Because of may age, I am apt to use outdated terms such as "salt of the earth" to describe the kind of neighbor and friend Mike had been to those of us here on West 12th Road.

Immediately after the destruction of our block wrought by Sandy, Mike and his family were one of only a very few individuals who remained on the block.

Even though Mike's house was basically destroyed, and his finances almost nonexistent, not a day passed that Mike and his wife Susan would not walk up and down West 12th Road checking the houses of those neighbors who had to relocate and seeking out those of us who remained to ask if there was anything we needed or if there was anything they could do for us.

On June 6, 2013, Mike was checking a neighbor's house when he was assaulted and injured by two individuals who were attempting to steal copper pipe from that residence.  One of our local newspapers, The Queens Forum, printed a story about Mike's selfllessness which you can read here.

For an individual who had so little, one could only be amazed by Mike's sense of optimism and outgoing personality.  When you engaged him in conversation it was always about you and not him.  Mike was the type of man who truly wore his heart on his sleeve.

It is said that a bad neighbor is a misfortune but a good neighbor is a blessing.  Mike was truly that blessing!

As I stated above, I write about my friend because that is an essential part of how I deal with grief and because Mike's unexpected death reminds me of something I already know - that not one of us are promised even one more day.

Like you, I do not have forever.

Like you, so much of my life is a real time reminder that life is both fragile and fleeting.

Like you, these realities spur me to emulate Mike and work to do whatever I can to better the lives of my family, friends and neighbors while we are all still here together in this life.

Tragically Mike is gone but Mike's family remains here with all of us on West 12th Road.

His family was totally unprepared, both emotionally and financially, for his unexpected death and so I am asking all of you who read this posting to consider making a financial contribution to his family in their time of need.  You can do so by clicking here or by visiting the Give Forward box on the top left hand side of this page.

Thank you.