Letters & Opinion
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
The front page of the Feb. 19 issue of The Pointer was graced with a beautiful picture of a freshly snow-covered wonderland. But in stark opposition to the feelings I got from looking at the picture, it was captioned with words like “chaos” and “ruin.” This all seemed to set up Katie Leb’s opinion piece about “quitting Wisconsin weather.” I feel the need to speak out and defend natural cycles, because they can’t, at least with words, defend themselves.
People tell me it is a matter of opinion, so I’ll just share my opinion instead of saying what I think is wrong with the dominant one. This dominance is evidenced by what was published last week and by the all-too-common bitching and complaining about the snow and the cold. Why is it we so rarely hear anyone celebrate the snow and the cold?
In this celebration, I’m not as alone as I often feel. Skiers, snowmobilers, ice fishers, sledders, ice skaters, ice sculptors, snowman builders, snow angel makers, snow shoe-ers, hunters, snowball throwers and dogs all gladly celebrate the Wisconsin winters.
But I suppose it is mostly the shovelers and drivers in all of us who complain so much. God forbid that anything comes with a price. For all the things listed above and the countless summer benefits we get from our particular climate, I for one, don’t complain about the shoveling or the cold.
Sure, I have my yearnings for summer and the feeling of black earth rolling through my fingers as I sow the seeds of a new year, but I have also made hopeful attempts at patience, and have thus acquired an appreciation for the wholeness of the Earth’s cycles and creatures. We ought to be humbled by her wholeness and purpose, since it is something we’ll never fully comprehend. It can only comprehend us.
When winter acts like it is supposed to, in contrast to unseasonable warmth, the last thing I see is chaos. And what good is any of this complaining about the cold and snow doing us anyway, except for maybe confirming our disconnection with the land. If we can find the strength, let us all slow down a little, get a little closer to the Earth, be quiet and rejoice.
-Jeremy Rankin
