A Neighbor Noticed
Jan 30, 2026
A Neighbor Noticed
(a snowstorm and an unexpected act)
Written By Bart Berkey | Most People Don't
This week’s snowstorm caused delays, cancellations, and disruptions for millions across the country.
Here in the DC area, we got about eight inches of snow followed by two to three inches of ice. The kind of weather that shuts everything down and reminds you how small things can suddenly feel very big.
Since my heart attack six years ago, my wife has been understandably cautious about “letting me” shovel. So, while I was working in my warm, cozy home office, she was outside scraping ice off the cars.
And then our neighbor appeared.
No one asked him.
No one waved him over.
His own driveway wasn’t even finished yet.
There he was, shoveling ours.
Yes, he knows my health history.
Yes, he’s the neighbor who hands out full-size candy bars on Halloween.
Yes, he’s just genuinely kind.
Feeling guilty, I eventually went outside and pushed around a little bit of powder, mostly so I could say thank you face to face. I told him he didn’t need to do any more. That we were good.
But his kindness stuck with me.
So, when he finally headed back to his own driveway, I followed him.
I wasn’t asked.
I was cold.
And the same reasons my wife didn’t want me shoveling applied to him, too.
But his generosity motivated me.
Most People Don’t… shovel their neighbor’s driveway without being asked.
That moment stirred up a memory I haven’t thought about in years.
When I was about ten years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, school was canceled after a heavy snow. Kids were sledding. Parents were digging out. An older man, probably around 80, had just finished shoveling his own driveway.
Instead of going inside... he started walking down the hill to see who else he could help.
Not long after, he suffered a heart attack. He fell and hit his head.
I will never forget the sight of my dad and other neighbors carrying him into an open garage, blood everywhere, doing everything they could to save him.
They couldn’t.
I watched a man die that day.
And this week, standing in the snow, I found myself asking questions that still don’t have easy answers.
What if he hadn’t tried to help others?
What if he had asked for help himself?
What if someone had noticed, anticipated, and overdelivered for him the way my Northern Virginia neighbor did for me?
There’s a line between generosity and self-sacrifice.
Between helping and hurting ourselves.
Between doing good and doing too much.
That’s why this week’s podcast conversation with Dr. Eric Fishon hit so close to home.
Eric has lived for years with narcolepsy, chronic fatigue, and other invisible health challenges. Conditions most people can’t see, but that shape every decision he makes. For a long time, people told him he was just tired, just stressed, just not trying hard enough.
Sound familiar?
Instead of giving up, Eric chose a different path. He turned his personal health struggles into advocacy, education, and service for others living with invisible disabilities. Not because it was easy. Not because it paid well. But because he noticed a need and decided to do something about it.
His story, like my neighbor’s, reminds me of something important.
Kindness isn’t just about doing more.
It’s about paying attention.
It’s about knowing when to step in and when to step back.
It’s about helping without being asked but also being humble enough to ask for help ourselves.
This week, I’m grateful for a neighbor who noticed.
For a reminder that generosity matters.
And for the wisdom to remember that how we help is just as important as that we help at all.
Because sometimes, the most meaningful thing we can do is simply see one another.
Most People Don’t. But you can.
More about Dr. Fishon here: Dr. Eric Fishon website
Full podcast episode here: Podcast Episode
