yes is a pleasant country:
if’s wintry
(my lovely)
let’s open the year
both is the very weather
(not either)
my treasure,
when violets appear
love is a deeper season
than reason;
my sweet one
(and april’s where we’re)
The temperature will hit 103 F (39.44 C) today in south Texas. Bring it on. I love the heat. I’ve got iced team in the fridge. The air conditioner is working fine. I’ll lather on some sunscreen and go for walk (while it’s still cool (in the nineties – lol). We can’t change our weather. We can change our attitude toward it. That’s how it is with a lot of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We can always find a way to make it a great day. Hope you’re having one.
Sports channels, news channels, or the weather channel, all seem to have an obsession with predicting the outcome of events before they happen. Commentators speak with confidence that they know the outcome. Viewers watch hoping the “experts” will side with what they believe will be final outcome. In reality, all the talk and predictions on these shows is nothing more than entertainment value. They tap into our deep insecurities and give us something to hold on to even if what they are giving us is an illusion. Don’t take them too seriously. Sporting contests and life have ways of playing out that are often surprising. We can’t force it or rush it. At times all we can do is patiently observe it.
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes work, Don Quixote.
“Keep in mind, Sancho, that one man is no more than another, unless he does more than another; all these tempests that fall upon us are signs that fair weather is coming shortly, and that things will go well for us. For it is impossible for good or evil to last forever; and hence it follows that the evil having lasted long the good must be now nigh at hand, so thou must not distress thyself at the misfortunes which happened to me since thou has no share in them.” ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Note: like Don Quixote’s optimism. Even though he had many misfortunes, he kept believing that something good was going to happen. He was a happy warrior. When I read the online news, I see articles written by one naysayer after another predicting doom and gloom. They never admit when they’re wrong. They go on to predicting doom and gloom about something else. We live in a democracy. When we live in a democracy. We have faith that the people who live in the democracy will get it right. Democracies are grand experiments of groups of people working together to govern themselves. It takes optimism to live in a democracy and the firm belief that together we can make this experiment work. It’s the same in families. When two people get together to form a family they say to each other, “This is an experiment. And if we work at it and commit ourselves to making it work it will work. It takes optimism to fuel the fire for success.
My amigo Jose is worried about the affect of the hot Texas sun on the new grass he planted this spring. I can understand how Jose feels since we are in a day after day cycle of 100 degree (38 C) weather. There are things in our lives we can’t change no matter how much we want to change them. Why waste a moment of energy fretting about it? It’s better to focus on what we can change and make the most of the moment. I think I’ll just roll along with the hot weather and pour myself another Texas sized glass of iced tea.
The weather in south Texas changed. Thunderstorms and heavy rains rolled through. Wherever I’ve traveled in the U.S. folks like to say, “hang around, the weather will change.” That’s also true of us and those we know. We never know from one minute to the next what will trigger a laugh, angry outburst, tears, or sense of profound happiness. It’s best to cut each other some slack, our emotional weather changes and changes frequently.
l lived in a northern climate where I experienced long periods of cloudiness. There were times when the clouds seemed so thick I thought that I’d never feel the sunshine again. When the weather pattern changed and the clouds released their grip the sun flooded the area. The bright sunshine renewed the spirit of people oppressed by the gloomy weather. We have opportunities every day to be the sunshine in someone’s life. We can lift the gloom that surrounds them. Brighten the corner where you live. We need your sunshine.
