Snow

There are many reasons why I love that cold, white stuff that falls from the sky, but here are the top 5 reasons:

Human Solidarity

Yes, there are a few old grumps out there who remain unchanged by the shimmering coat hugging the earth, but for the most part, snow brings people together in a positive way. Neighbors shovel each others driveways. Groups of strong men form out of nowhere to push stuck cars out of drifts. As Trish and I walked around with our sleds yesterday in search of a hill, strangers called out to us in friendly terms, wishing us luck in our quest. People never call out to us when we’re out for a walk on a snowless day, and if they did, we would probably feel slightly uncomfortable. When snow falls, it’s something we have in common with the people around us, and indifference toward our fellow man transforms into joviality.

Acceptability of Weird Actions

You can do totally strange things in public, and no one thinks less of you. In fact, when I was driving home from work yesterday, feeling a little nervous as my care slid this way and that even as my steering wheel remained stationary, I noticed kids of all ages actually bounding around through various yards, leaping up in the air and landing with a powdery smack on the ground. They ran and slid. They skipped. They screamed. On a normal day, I would have worried that there was something wrong with a bunch of children performing these activities, but in the snow, it seemed so wonderful, I couldn’t help but grin broadly, wishing I were out there with them. Later, when Trish and I where out walking, I got the urge to stop, fall on my back, and flail my arms and legs like an animal in a trap, creating a pretty fantastic snow angel if I do say so myself. I wonder what would happen if I randomly fell on my back and started flailing around on a non-snowy day…

Multiple Layers

How refreshing to see lumps of clothing ungracefully navigating around in the snow. People appear more cheery when well bundled, sporting colorful hats and scarves that catch and hold falling snow flakes. When they slip and fall on the slick snow, they do not cry out, but rather, they laugh out loud, having again become the awkward children they once were. Also, on cold snowy days, fat people have the advantage over skinny people, since they are naturally able to hold in their heat better. Skinny people have to put on more layers of clothing to create artificial “fat” to compensate for their inferior bodies, and often in this condition, an onlooker would be unable to tell a differences in peoples body types. Fat people are sort of like gods of winter; the envy of anorexic movie stars and the like.

Sledding

How much of an explanation do you really need? Half the fun is sliding out of control and flipping over at seemingly break neck speeds, the other half is observing how goofy it looks when others perform the same feats. You get to bundle up and wear multiple layers of everything, spend hours sliding down and trudging up giant hills, then when you’re completely exhausted, you sit around sipping hot cocoa while your clothes tumble around in the dryer. Yes, the only thing better than sledding is sledding at night.

Mutt Reactions

Of course there are exceptions, but most dogs I know love snow. When we were kids, our dog Lucky would pull us down the sledding hill to give us more speed. She would become hysterical with joy at the sight of snow, and even when she started to get old and less enthusiastic about most things, she never lost her vigor in the snow. Our current dog Scrappy bounds around like a gazelle in the snow, and she is constantly eating and snorting it as she goes. I think she might actually get sort of high off it through the snorting process. Nothing is funnier to watch than a dog enjoying a snow storm.

Everything Is Compensation

I was reading a book the other night called The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and came across an interesting idea. The line was, “In the world, everything is compensation. When you can’t go as fast, you push harder.” It was a concept I’ve never looked directly in the eye before, and it quite intrigued me, I suppose because it’s true of most everything.

The entire universe is constantly struggling to obtain equilibrium. Bodies of water decrease; rain falls to fill them full. People die; babies are born. The sun rises and heats up the earth; it sets to cool things off. Nature is a thing of perpetual motion, trying to keep its scales balanced.

The human race has its own set of wheels, constantly turning to make sure all aspects of life roll smoothly and equally. Businesses change course to compensate for change in consumer attitudes. Institutes for higher education offer degree programs based on societies need for specific professionals. Leaders are appointed to take charge when groups of men require guidance. Life as we know it is one big push towards the middle.

Because all nature fights for equilibrium, it should come as no surprise that the tendencies of the individual man also struggle for balance. When one member of our race deviates too far from our established norm, we lock them up or attempt to correct their abnormality. To think differently is a curse. To act differently is a disgrace. Systems of education fight to create people who think and act as governments see fit, all under the pretense of forming “free thinkers”.

While pondering on this concept, I was reminded of a speech I read way back when by James Baldwin called “A Talk To Teachers.” Baldwin says, “The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity. But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.”

Baldwin goes on to say that in order for a society to survive, it has to change and evolve, and the only means of doing this is for “responsible” citizens to “examine society and try to change it and fight it.” Ironically, in this scenario the outliers become a means of balance, as working towards change is what causes a society to remain standing.

We like to think that in order for individuals to succeed, others must fail, but a more accurate account would be to acknowledge that for some to fail, they must be manipulated into not succeeding. And that’s compensation at work. Minds are designed to expand ideas, therefore making new ideas, never thought before. Each person has the ability to be unique, and in this way is uniform. Innovative ideas are not a miracle. The miracle is that minds can be manipulated into not having innovative ideas. Success is what comes naturally, and yet we are taught from a very young age that to be “civilized” means we must conform to the traditions of mediocrity formed by less developed ancestors. More often than not ideas are harnessed through formal education, not expanded.

And so, as “responsible” citizens, we must constantly fight to change and expand the way we are told to view the world. And what is more, we must not keep these ideas to ourselves, but rather, we must share what we know and how we know it so that others can pick up the thread of ever expanding thoughts. If it’s a better world we want for ourselves and our children, we cannot be content to simply accept the notions of our governments, our religious authorities, and all other men who give us stale answers to stale questions. We must ask new questions.

The only way I know to do this is through writing. In writing, not only can we make ourselves heard, but we can begin to understand the unique ideas within ourselves. And in writing what we know, we give opportunity to others to expand upon that knowledge, carrying it further than we ever could have done ourselves. Ideas begin with the individual, but they are a group effort.

Joan Didion, an American journalist and author, summed up all my thoughts on writing in two sentences: “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” Life is filled with questions that do not exist until we take the time to form and ask them.

“In the world, everything is compensation.” It’s time to stop being content with stale notions and ideas. Write what you know, and you might be surprised to find that you know more than you thought you did.