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I’ve been dismayed in recent years to hear too many tales of Hellertonians reporting their neighbors for relatively minor snowy-sidewalk code violations.

When it comes to sidewalk snow and ice, we should exercise more understanding.

We all know that ice can be dangerous on sidewalks. No argument there. Snow and ice have to be addressed, according to borough ordinance, no later than 24 hours after the cessation of the winter weather.

You snowblow or shovel. If the ice can’t be removed without damaging the pavement, you spread salt and/or sand.

All this is what most people do.

We also should know that after a major ice storm, there will be ice on some sidewalks, and it may linger for days. That’s the price of living in a humid continental climate zone in a small town full of fully human, imperfect beings.

Some households perpetually struggle to clear sidewalks; others pounce upon a single snowflake like hell unleashed.

The borough itself, on its web page about snow removal, seems to recognize the difference between the strict letter of the law and the pragmatic realities of living together. It uses the word “please” three times, and even suggests helping neighbors:

“Please be a good neighbor by keeping sidewalks, driveway entrances and fire hydrants safe from snow and ice. You could also offer to help those in your neighborhood who may not be able to shovel their own sidewalks.” [Emphasis added.]

In my neighborhood, were the power of middle-aged men attacking sidewalk snow and ice harnessed, we could solve America’s energy problems for eternity. It’s almost a competitive sport around here. Snow-throwers scream practically at the break of dawn. I even heard one churning and grungling away on Christmas morning. Surely, Jesus wept.

But even the borough is cautious, I’ve noticed, about chopping away at its own icy sidewalks. And salting sometimes can damage concrete and cause pitting and spalling.

Once in a while, if hit by the perfect storm, we simply must wait until it warms up. Not every cold-weather inconvenience can or should be fixed at will just because we want it to be.

I do love my snowblower, personally, so I can understand the enthusiasm of my local “snowblow bros.” But snowblowers are a huge luxury, and they’re not cheap. And for older adults living alone, health-care workers and first responders working crazy hours, and less physically abled people, among others, a $700 snowblower or fancy shovel does nothing if you don’t have the strength or time to operate it.

So does that mean people who can’t afford to own and operate a snowblower, who struggle to work a shovel in frigid weather, or who can’t find or hire help should, basically, not be allowed to live in our borough and own a small house?

That’s what hair-trigger code violation-reporters seem to believe.

It’s obviously true that if maintaining a residential property is no longer feasible, eventually, a person will have to make some kind of reasonable arrangement for help. But we should be forbearing; we should have enough moral imagination to imagine how we’d feel were we suddenly slowed down by poverty or ill health or the moving-away or even deaths of loved ones.

I recall running for office in Hellertown and meeting so many older adults living by themselves. Many of them do a fantastic job of stewarding their properties, whether directly or by hiring people. They put me to shame, often. But they have bad days, too. And sometimes, they need help.

Before my teenage son went off to college, I had a valuable resource handily available. He’s a good kid, and he seemed always happy to get out there and shovel even wet snow. But when he’s at school, I realize what a luxury a strong young person who works for a bowl of chili and a few oatmeal cookies can be.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, I lived in a snowbelt, and a big snow always meant that we assembled a kid army, grabbed our shovels and marched from neighborhood to neighborhood making $5 to shovel driveways and sidewalks. I don’t see those young snow-removal troops anymore. They’re all cooped up with the Xboxes or shoveling digital snow in Minecraft world.

Before calling the borough, have you asked your neighbor if they need help? Better yet, if you’re able, have you considered clearing your neighbor’s sidewalk without even being asked? At least twice in Hellertown, I’ve had secret snowblowers take care of my sidewalk in random acts of kindness. In both cases, I felt humbled by the simple goodness of neighborly kindness, and it actually inspired me to do more for others, too.

And let’s talk about borough resources. Contacting the code office should generally be a last resort. It’s not super fun for code officers to process warnings and citations for minor code offenses. But they can’t ignore reports that conform to the letter of the law, and citizens should use a bit of common sense and compassion before pulling the trigger and crying to the code office for petty, exaggerated and passive-aggressive kvetching. There’s no question that our code office will take the matter seriously. But that doesn’t mean it’s a great use of community resources or good citizenship.

We live in a community, and were every single violation of every ordinance prosecuted to the letter of the law, we’d live in crazy world. We have to use wisdom.

I remember an old episode of the Andy Griffith Show where a legalistic trainee deputy learns that there’s more to the law than words and charts. In a small town, the laws of the heart should usually come first.

Bill Broun is a writer who lives in Hellertown. He’s also a Saucon Valley School District director. These are his personal opinions.