Well, well, it appears that it's that time of year again. Given that we are hurtling towards mid-December, I suppose it's not that surprising but somehow the later it comes the bigger shock it seems to cause! I could swear I heard a collective groan from the metropolis this morning.
Personally speaking, I think that there's something great about a city like Montreal that truly does have four seasons that can be relied on (most of the time!) and enjoyed to the full. But of course, the one season that seems to divide people the most is old man winter. The beautiful but cold white blanket does not bring any comfort to many.
For some the sight this morning is very much that of a winter wonderland adventure playground arriving once more, and for others it is an ugly, chill-inducing sight that even makes them wish they were unemployed and could stay home for the day. Hell, no, stay home still spring!
Unquestionably it is a major issue for the elderly and I can understand totally how it affects them and their ability to get out and about, but for the rest of us, well, we don't have that excuse - yet. It's human nature to only compare our situation with what seems "normal" and to complain. Until this morning, "normal" was dry pavements, a temperature sitting just around zero, and little to no snow, rain or anything else. Beside that, this morning's white welcome probably was hardly heavenly to most commuters this morning.
But we can often see things very differently when we either are able to transport ourselves into a less fortunate someone's normality, or remember a particularly unpleasant and difficult time in our lives. So, compared to someone who is in one of the local hospitals with cancer or Alzheimer's disease, who also does not have to face the wet misery of this morning, we are in clover. We are the cat who got the cream. Or if one remembers a time when our own regular life was kicked to the side by illness, either of ourselves or a family member, well, a cold Monday morning is but a triviality.
I suppose it's one of the total ironies of human nature and all the things in life that are taken for granted that makes us groan at some little inconvenience that a kid staring out the window of a hospital bed is crying over. We are groaning because we have to go out in it and the kid is crying because he can't - unable to get up and go out in it.
Although it's easy to come up with hypotheticals to imagine, it's harder to get people to use them as motivational tools to put a smile on their faces. But one must! It's just cold air. And wet snow. Some mess under your feet. Brain surgery it ain't! Isn't half the fun of coming home to a warm, cosy fire in the dark of winter the mess we have to go through to get there? The reverse might not be quite so true in terms of heading out into that mess to get to the office, but would not having a job or the capacity to get one be better?
It's winter, and it comes around like summer does, and there's nothing to do about it except to get out in it and attack life as if it was mid-July, not mid-December. We are so fortunate to be able to live as healthy individuals that we are not truly celebrating that freedom unless we do our best to remind ourselves of that and kick our own backsides every day, if possible.
Besides, what fun would summer be if it was still 21 degrees today?! Hell, spring wouldn't feel anything special at all without a real winter. Those first few days of trickling water, warming sunshine, birds chirping and yes, even the classic spring aroma of poop thawing out in the sewers below the city streets, well, they are all magical due to having survived another few months of pure white hell (for some) or heaven (for others).
Yes, yes, I know this all might sound rather disingenuous coming from a writer! We being the rather fortunate species that seems to be allowed to cocoon at home on such days, near a crackling fire and with a pot of robust San Francisco dark roast on the desk. But, I am a man who practices what he preaches, and on that note I am off to ascend into the wintery, watery, windy icefall and deathzone of our very own Mont Royal.
Just imagine how much warmer and cosy it will seem afterwards, and how much better that dark roast is going to taste, and frankly, simply how much more alive I will feel after doing so - that is what makes facing such challenges well worth the effort. Now, if only that cursed telephone would ring so that I could make it an excuse to not go out after all! ;) - Kevin Mc
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