Aftermath of the storms: Grocery store struggles to stock shelves

Just about the time that I’d decided I needed a major shopping trip to replenish food and supplies, along came two back-to-back storms.

The winds knocked out power, which took out the freezer and dairy sections of all the local stores, which meant they had to throw away all the frozen and cold foods: milk, eggs, butter, cheeses, everything.

Then, of course, trucks struggled to get through all the downed limbs and damage on the roads and therefore were slow to restock the stores.

We haven’t seen eggs for nearly two weeks at our local store, for example. Today, miracle of miracles, they managed to get a box — that’s a box, one box — of 24 cartons of eggs.

The ensuing crush of excited people pressing forward to the dairy section could have been deadly to seniors who aren’t exactly sturdy on their feet.

But I ended up very proud of the folks in this town. A handful of college kids saw what was happening and blocked the mass of people who surged forward, carefully escorting one very elderly lady forward and handing her a carton of eggs.

That changed the urgent mood of the crowd, when they realized what they were doing and what could have happened.

People eased away, no longer in a panic about getting eggs, realizing there just weren’t enough for everyone, and the college kids stayed there taking it upon themselves to distribute eggs, mostly to seniors, I noticed.

I was impressed.

Afterward, no matter where I walked in the store, it seemed that there was one item left in the sections where stocks were low, as though people were intentionally leaving the last item for someone else who might need it more.

Could those college kids have started a trend of kindness? Is that possible?