While the rest of the country worries about war with Iraq, terrorism, a slumping economy, state and national deficits, and the pros and cons of a massive tax cut, life on the little offshore island of Islesford goes on.

The islanders were mostly asleep last Saturday night, after coping with one more power outage, bitter cold, high winds, and the pelting of freezing rain. Rob Mocarsky and his pregnant wife, Katya, were spending the night in their Islesford house, back home from his present teaching job in Jackman, expecting a quiet weekend before the baby came.

Suddenly, at 2:30 Sunday morning, Katya felt the start of labor pains. Rob phoned a neighbor, lobsterman David Thomas. Dave said he would call the Coast Guard and then pick up the Mocarskys and drive them to the town dock. But the only Coast Guard boat available was a 65-footer that couldn’t have made it in to the dock. If it had anchored out, the Mocarskys would have faced a ride in an open inflatable dinghy to reach the big boat.

Dave quickly warmed up his lobster boat and rushed them to the Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor. They made it, barely. And so, at 9:44 a.m. Sunday, Patrick Emanuel Mocarsky was born, 9 pounds, 14 ounces. Barb Fernald told the story in her column in the Mount Desert Islander.

Islanders’ resourcefulness and neighborliness can be an inspiration to us all as we face greater challenges.