As the old saying goes, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of the appointed rounds.” Because of this saying, we know that the postman will deliver our mail no matter what the weather brings.

There are other public service providers that will do the same for us. They will work in the best and worst of weather to get the job done.

Whether it’s warm or cold, sunny and clear, cloudy and rainy, cold and snowy, or any other weather type – especially here in Northwestern Illinois – a high of 71 on Feb. 16? Given how our weather has been so far this winter, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is snow on the ground come May 1.

In the Sauk Valley, there are people everywhere who provide the services that keep our homes heated, water flowing, internet working and our daily lives running smoothly. However, some overlook these valued service providers.

It takes a lot of work to provide all the services needed to keep our homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, libraries, and everything else that uses electricity, internet, phone, gas, water, sewer and waste management running smoothly.

In the Sauk Valley, these service providers play an important role in our lives and provide these important services to the public. They are not personal servants and should not be treated as such.

We’ll go ahead and call the garbage man, plumber, electrician, heating and cooling repair technician, mechanic, and all who fix, repair, remove and replace the things we use or create every day, public service providers.

These public service providers are educated, trained, certified, licensed and registered to perform their duties for the public. They serve the public with an inclusive, non-biased and nondiscriminatory attitude. Otherwise, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have a job, a business or a paycheck.

They are no different than a law enforcement officer, a firefighter, an ambulance driver, a public works employee or any other government employee who provides public services to a community’s residents.

Why would we think of the garbage man, plumber or other public service provider any differently? They are not government employees, but they provide much-needed services to the public.

In Sterling, a major snow event during Thanksgiving week caused confusion with the weekly garbage pickup schedule on top of the weekday holiday, too. Throw in the fact that this was the last week for yard waste pickup, and chaos ensued.

Miscommunication, misunderstanding, a snowstorm and the holiday week led to protests in several neighborhoods when they did not receive the full service expected for that week. Angry customers reached out to the contracted waste haulers’ office, city hall and aldermen, demanding a solution to the problem. And a solution they got.

The waste hauler, city hall, Sterling public works, and aldermen worked to address the service gap caused by this act of God, resulting in a hiccup in garbage and yard waste pickup that Thanksgiving week.

This was a remarkable feat of coordination and cooperation, with all involved completing garbage and yard waste pickups where needed in the community as quickly as the next week.

What was disappointing about this event was the shouts of incompetence and failure directed at the waste hauler and the city by a few unhappy customers.

The city’s contract with the community’s exclusive waste hauler is valid until 2028. This contract accounts for service disruptions, such as the one that occurred during Thanksgiving week.

A snowstorm is technically referred to as an “Act of God.” Usually, service contracts between businesses and a municipality include provisions for resolving issues, such as an “Act of God”, that disrupt service.

The opportunity to correct a mistake that’s nobody’s fault, such as issues caused by the waste hauler or the city, is a fair solution that benefits everyone involved. Calls to break the contract or to criticize the waste haulers and their employees are not.

In the Sauk Valley, people of all walks of life answer the call to serve their fellow man. Each person acts to fulfill this call to service in their own way.

Maslow’s Hierarchy has five levels of motivation that a person displays as they reach for their golden ring. At the top of that pyramid is self-actualization, which is the pursuit of personal fulfillment and the realization of one’s full potential.

Here lies the equalizer: While we all have different skills and capabilities, we are all equal in the pursuit of fulfillment and reaching our full potential because it’s an inherent humanistic trait in each of us.

In the Sauk Valley, we all benefit when we remember that, in our own way, we are serving our fellow residents and our communities while striving to reach our full potential.

Whether we are a tinker, tailor, sailor, rich man, poor man or fill any other role in society, in the Sauk Valley, we are better off when we respect each other for what we do rather than disrespect each other for what we did not do, especially when it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

Jim Wise is a Sterling alderman.