Rob Ford on the Road to Damascus

"This is an absolutely staggering figure that puts pressure on our city," he said.  "At this point we need the province and the federal government to step up and assist us with these clean-up costs."

It's really easy to tell people to live within their means and blame them for poor planning when they falter.  Rob Ford has done so more than once.  

But life doesn't always respect one's means; an unexpected accident, a sudden illness or accumulated injuries both physical and mental can get in the way.  When the demands of life exceed your means of sustainability, what then?

That's where Toronto is at with the clean-up.  

Toronto has powers of taxation.  It's got a lot of really wealthy people and strong businesses that, being as committed to planning ahead as they are, should be investing in their community to promote the kind of sustainability that will improve their business opportunities in the future.

Yet here we are, two majors storms in and more expected in the near future, looking for assistance from other levels of government.  This is in spite of Ford's so-called gravy-cutting, too.

This doesn't make Toronto weak; it makes us human.  $60 million is too much for the city; scale down, and it can be a few thousand, or even the cost of groceries that's out reach for individuals.  It's the exact same thing - only the scale differs.

There's a lesson in this.