I'm writing this prior to the biggest snow storm of the season. Those of us who live on or near the Atlantic seaboard call this kind of storm a "Nor'Easter".. it's really a winter hurricane. It'll be a category 2 storm closer to the coast, but it's about to dump about a foot of snow in my area. (Edit: We got nearly 2ft of snow here, and another 1-5 inches are coming tonight). I've seen a lot of folk complaining about this winter season. They say it's too cold, too snowy, too much ice, etc.... but, I'm not going to gripe about it.
Winter is supposed to be cold, windy, icy, snowy.. it's supposed to be the time of hibernation for our hemisphere. And, with global climate change, weather becomes more severe. That's just a fact. In just a few short weeks, it'll be over, and spring temperatures will appear. The summer will follow, and people will complain about the heat of summer, the humidity and will be begging for the snow again.
I want to enjoy this. I want to embrace it. As I get older, the seasons seem to pass so much more quickly than in the days of my youth. I don't know how many more winters I'll get to experience. My mother gave me a really good piece of advice when I was in my mid-30's and contemplating a divorce. She said, "Life is too short to be miserable." And, she was absolutely right. A lot of times, I think we create our own misery by choosing to see life from a viewpoint of suffering.
Yes, the snow and ice and cold temperatures can make us uncomfortable. They can make driving inconvenient. In other areas, we complain about traffic, someone saying something mean-spirited about us, someone ignored us, we can't buy a new car, we can't go on vacation because the snow days are being counted against us... how awful it is to live with these terrible first-world problems!!
Yet, we have homes, transportation, food, clothing and the ability to stay warm. I've said it before- we live on a violent planet. It was created in the violence of the "big-bang" aftermath, and the subsequent crash between an asteroid (Thea) and the planet, which then formed our moon and put us into the "Goldilocks Zone" in orbit around the sun, to create the life that we enjoy today. We have hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, tsunamis, forest fires, etc... something has to die for us to live- every day. It is the way of things here. There is beauty in that violence.
Many of us can appreciate the power and symmetry of the hurricanes and tornadoes.. we love to watch the lightning dance through the ebony clouds of a thunderstorm. In December, we practically beg the gods and goddesses of weather for snow on the Solstice. With destruction also comes creation. After a forest fire, new life almost immediately begins to grow. There are certain trees that do not release their seeds until a fire occurs. When this snow melts, it will nourish the plants. These cold temperatures have killed off mosquito populations and many other forms of parasitic insects. All of this is a part of the cycle of life and death on this planet.
As children, we tend to look in awe upon our natural world. Once we reach adulthood, we get so caught up in the 'world' we have created through commerce, industry, etc... that we see the natural cycles of our seasons as inconveniences and annoyances. The planet is our home, not the "world". It is our life-giver and our sustenance. We are merely residents and children of the planet itself/herself. This is her world and it's her way.
I am challenging myself and those who will join with me in simply embracing what's left of this season. Appreciate the beauty and wonder of winter. Spring will come soon enough. Our local weather forecast is, in fact, calling for a warm up as soon as the middle of next week. Let Winter have its due, and enjoy it while it is here. There won't be another exactly like it again.
Winter is supposed to be cold, windy, icy, snowy.. it's supposed to be the time of hibernation for our hemisphere. And, with global climate change, weather becomes more severe. That's just a fact. In just a few short weeks, it'll be over, and spring temperatures will appear. The summer will follow, and people will complain about the heat of summer, the humidity and will be begging for the snow again.
I want to enjoy this. I want to embrace it. As I get older, the seasons seem to pass so much more quickly than in the days of my youth. I don't know how many more winters I'll get to experience. My mother gave me a really good piece of advice when I was in my mid-30's and contemplating a divorce. She said, "Life is too short to be miserable." And, she was absolutely right. A lot of times, I think we create our own misery by choosing to see life from a viewpoint of suffering.
Yes, the snow and ice and cold temperatures can make us uncomfortable. They can make driving inconvenient. In other areas, we complain about traffic, someone saying something mean-spirited about us, someone ignored us, we can't buy a new car, we can't go on vacation because the snow days are being counted against us... how awful it is to live with these terrible first-world problems!!
Yet, we have homes, transportation, food, clothing and the ability to stay warm. I've said it before- we live on a violent planet. It was created in the violence of the "big-bang" aftermath, and the subsequent crash between an asteroid (Thea) and the planet, which then formed our moon and put us into the "Goldilocks Zone" in orbit around the sun, to create the life that we enjoy today. We have hurricanes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, tsunamis, forest fires, etc... something has to die for us to live- every day. It is the way of things here. There is beauty in that violence.
Many of us can appreciate the power and symmetry of the hurricanes and tornadoes.. we love to watch the lightning dance through the ebony clouds of a thunderstorm. In December, we practically beg the gods and goddesses of weather for snow on the Solstice. With destruction also comes creation. After a forest fire, new life almost immediately begins to grow. There are certain trees that do not release their seeds until a fire occurs. When this snow melts, it will nourish the plants. These cold temperatures have killed off mosquito populations and many other forms of parasitic insects. All of this is a part of the cycle of life and death on this planet.
As children, we tend to look in awe upon our natural world. Once we reach adulthood, we get so caught up in the 'world' we have created through commerce, industry, etc... that we see the natural cycles of our seasons as inconveniences and annoyances. The planet is our home, not the "world". It is our life-giver and our sustenance. We are merely residents and children of the planet itself/herself. This is her world and it's her way.
I am challenging myself and those who will join with me in simply embracing what's left of this season. Appreciate the beauty and wonder of winter. Spring will come soon enough. Our local weather forecast is, in fact, calling for a warm up as soon as the middle of next week. Let Winter have its due, and enjoy it while it is here. There won't be another exactly like it again.
