I always remember that TV ad – “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” (Trivia buffs: What’s the product?)
Only I figure it’s not nice to speak bad about Mother Nature.
But it seems that’s all we do. It’s too hot. Too wet. Too dry. Too windy.
And, of course, lately it’s been too snowy, too icy, too cold.
Many of us, particularly those of us in the media, often present winter storms as bad and dangerous, something to endure and avoid.
How many times have we been told to stay indoors – to stay off the streets - this winter?
Reminds me of that line from that old movie: “Emergency! Everybody to get from street!” (Trivia buffs: What’s the movie?)
We call them killer storms, adding up the people who die in car crashes or from heart attacks shoveling snow, when it’s not the snow’s fault.
No wonder Mother Nature lashes out every month or so and really gets nasty, killing a few dozen here and there.
Here were are ragging on one of the most beautiful things a human can see – our world cloaked in brilliant white snow and diamond-like ice.
There’s something magic about a snow day. It even sounds different.
It makes our homes seem cozier.
A hot drink tastes just a little bit better.
Children know. Their instinct isn’t fear.
They feel this change in the world, and they love it. And not just because it breaks their routine.
Our pets also know. You see them frisking out in the snow.
Or maybe they just pick up on the child that remains in each one of us.
Even those who don’t venture outside, even those who say they hate snow,
They feel the difference as they stand by the window.
No, we can’t go about our regular world.
The world that spins very much the same way almost every other day of the year.
Shouldn’t we embrace this blessed change, this challenge that restores the earth and, if we let it, our lives?
And give thanks?
I say yes, absolutely.
When Mother Nature gives you a big plate of something that is so beautiful, so evocative, so different and so potentially dangerous, you’d better clean your plate and ask for seconds!
(By the way, please watch the video to see some of your photos and CBS-6 reporter Joe St. George singing like a champ!)
So what was the Mother Nature ad?
And was was the “get from street” movie?
Next time one of us in the media tells you Mother Nature is acting up and to stay indoors, try not to remember that clip.
