Keller @ Large: Compassion For Those Taxed By Brutal Winter

BOSTON (CBS) - I'm pretty sure the last thing anyone wants to hear right now is yet another public appeal for tolerance and togetherness as we continue to deal with the wretched winter of 2015.

Patience is wearing thin around here.

As I told a snow-bird relative who insisted on e-mailing me the other day about how much he was enjoying the weather down in Tampa – keep that up and you may have trouble finding anyone to talk to you when you return.

But please tolerate one more pitch for compassion for those most affected by what has happened.

We are starting to hear stories of people fired for repeated tardiness and/or absenteeism as a result of the storms and the public transit meltdown. I understand the plight of businesses that have taken a bath this month, and if financial losses force layoffs, that's one thing.

But how can you give someone the hook when their offense was completely involuntary?

That's just not right.

Compassion is also due to working-class people who have been hit with heavy, unexpected taxes by Mother Nature.

When your car or home is damaged by the weather, that's a tax hike.

When you lose wages or business for the same reasons, that's a tax hike too.

When the physical or emotional stress of dealing with this mess drives you to the doctor for relief, that is also a kind of tax.

Those clamoring for tax hikes to fund the T would do well to keep all that in mind.

I could go on, but let's just remember – the damage that's been done here will still be deeply felt even after the weather that caused it has changed.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

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