COLUMN: Snow, ice, sleet, or a mixture of all three leads to delivery delay

The recent winter storm that impacted the region with freezing rain/sleet/snow is a distant memory. Hopefully, there weren’t any major mishaps among the Republic-Monitor readership last week.
Yes, the mail was delayed a day. It’s a little difficult to deliver the letters, junkmail or the all-important newspaper when it’s impossible to open the mailbox.
The local carriers would have made every effort to get the mail delivered on time, provided the mail truck got to the post office. It didn’t, so postal employees enjoyed a much-appreciated day off.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no official United States Postal Service motto. The following phrase appears in the front of the James A. Farley Post Office structure in New York City, engraved in stone by the architectural firm that built it:
“Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Supposedly taken from a book authored by Greek historian Herodotus, it refers to messengers of the Persian Empire from almost 2,500 years ago. I’m not sure of how much snow or ice accumulation there was in that area more than two millennia ago, but it was long before the North American delivery creations of the Pony Express and mail planes.
The unofficial motto sounds great in theory, but is it realistic for planes, mail trucks and letter carriers to go on with their normal delivery routines when a winter storm rolls through? If it’s bad enough to shut down the airports and interstates, and the sidewalks are an entirely different subject, there’s probably a good chance that venturing out may not be the best idea.

The unofficial post office motto is a reminder of the Emma Lazarus poem which appears at another more famous New York City landmark, the Statue of Liberty.
The sonnet’s closing lines from Lazarus’ sonnet “The New Colossus,” including the following: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddles masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
For whatever reason, the poem is often taken as Gospel for many concerning immigration policy by many lawmakers. The poem can basically be paraphrased as “Show up to America. We’ll let you in, no questions asked.” That’s a far cry from the reality of immigration quotas and a thorough screening process that occurs prior to the citizenship process.
Say something aloud enough times or print it often for many to see or read and it eventually becomes true, or enough people assume it be to be true and it becomes almost impossible to stem the tide.
Yes, the United States of America is a country comprised of immigrants and the United States Postal Office is able to get the job done 99.9 percent of the time. Thursday, Feb. 3, was not one of those days.
It wouldn’t hurt for folks to be a little understanding in the event of extreme weather. I believe, last week, most people knew why the mail never showed up. Enough about the mail, though.
-Thanks for reading

Daniel Winningham is the managing editor of the Republic-Monitor. He can be reached at 573-547-4567, ext. 227 or email editor@perryvillenews.com.