The Nature of Winter

Winter is . . .

Yes, winter is and it is just a drain to put a label on it. In warmer seasons we put superficial labels on it. Winter is so snowy! Winter is so cold! It is like we cannot remember the more subtle fingers of winter upon our psyches once warm weather is upon us. It is like childbirth for women in a way. The baby passes through the birth canal and their is a peak of pain and then the retreat of pain becomes ecstasy and for most women there is no psychic trauma, just as the baby does not remember trauma.

Visiting a warm climate for a few days and then being dropped back into the winter milieu does seem to clear the mind. Going into a warmer climate, there is a kind of vague thought that, "Oh wow! It is nice and warm here! Winter what?" However it all becomes painfully clear upon reinsertion into the winter clime.

Winter is depressing. Winter is demoralizing. Winter is an ameoba of cold air on the floor. Winter makes people grouchy and irritable. Winter saps a smile. Winter makes people worry. Winter makes people just as cuckoo as July heat. Winter makes cats and dogs cuddly. Winter air is either cold or polluted or both. Winter emboldens Republicans in legislative moralizing agendas and makes progressives feel angry and powerless.

Winter becomes a bad memory with the coming of good weather that makes us all forget the physical and psychic trauma and leaves us with only a general sense of dread and avoidance that only comes to life again come October, but is easily the most ephemeral and avoided thought during the warmer seasons.

We forget winter so easily, even when winter does not forget us.

Winter is . . . And winter always is . . . even when we forget.