Shared loss: Community showed that there’s heart in Duplin

You really know you have neighbors you can count on when you do not even have to ask for help. They are just there.

That is what happened to the Barwick family when they lost their son, Brad, Monday night in a tragic truck accident along a Duplin County road.

Brad had been up late the night before, helping his family bring in the crop. After that, no one really knows yet what happened. Brad and his friend, Scott Hargrove, were found the next morning. Hargrove is currently in serious condition in the hospital, but Brad did not make it.

When news of the loss hit the Indian Springs community, friends, neighbors and others gathered at the Barwick farm.

They knew if they did not get to work, the family would not just lose a son — they would lose their crop.

So, men and women of all ages took days off work or rushed over on their lunch hours to help. It wasn’t easy to work. They were grieving, too. Many of them had known Brad for years, since he was a little boy. Others had served with him on the Indian Springs volunteer fire department.

And they knew the Barwick family. In fact, some of them had stories of their own about how they were helped themselves by the generosity of the family who was always there when they were needed.

So, it was only natural that when there was a need at the Barwick farm, the response would be overwhelming.

This is not a fancy town with lots of money — and these people had to make a sacrifice themselves to take time away from their jobs, farms and families.

But it is what you do when you are part of a community — and when one of your neighbors needs you.

We talk a lot about how callous and selfish society has become in this busy, rush-rush age.

It only takes a story like the Barwick family’s for all of us to remember that we are supposed to be here for each other.

The kindness of their neighbors won’t bring back Brad, but the Barwicks will not have another loss to suffer — and they can take comfort in knowing that they are in the minds and hearts of a lot of people.

And right now, that might just be enough to get them through the next couple of days and a few tough years to come.

Published in Editorials on September 20, 2006 11:22 AM