The drought is hitting us all, especially farmers

The present drought has been going on for about two years now and Archbishop José H. Gomez has sent out a special prayer for rain. We at St. Joan of Arc Parish have been praying for rain for a long time. Yet, as a whole, people don’t seem to notice the drought unless it affects them personally. Now with water rationing we are beginning to feel the drought. We can’t water as often or as much as we would like. If not, we will feel it in the form of fines.

We will feel it as certain foods we enjoy go up in price as crops are wiped out. In Texas this year the wheat crop was poor if not lost altogether. This loss will be offset by a higher than normal holdover storage of wheat on farms.

Where it is felt most is on the farm and ranch. The rancher feels it, as there is less and less grass for the livestock. He has to buy feed. The farmer feels it in a way more difficult manner. The farmer feels it in a total loss.

Think how you would feel if after filling up your car each week and going to work, day after day, and on pay day not getting a pay check. The farmer goes to the field using the fuel for his tractor, he prepares the field with herbicide and fertilizer, he puts in long days and when harvest time comes he may not get a paycheck. The whole crop could be a loss. That is why he gets crop insurance. He has to buy insurance to be sure that he does not have a total loss. Would you accept the idea of buying insurance to be covered should your boss not give you a paycheck?

We normally don’t feel the needs of others or even our own needs until we suddenly feel their loss. Think about the situation where you feel the loss of a friend who has died, but yet you hadn’t even gone to see them in years. Thus it is with drought. We don’t notice it until it makes itself felt. On the flip side we have felt irritation at rain when it is as we say, “Rained on our parade.”

Rain is so needed by everyone at this time. Our aquifer is down and that is our one and often only source of water. Pray for rain.

We will all be feeling the lack of rain before long. If you do not have the archbishop’s prayer for rain, say your own. Copies of his prayer might be gotten from your church or the archdiocesan Pastoral Center. But above all pray for rain.

Father Samuel Heitkamp is the retired pastor of St. Joan of Arc Church in Kirby and was director of the former rural life organization in the archdiocese.