Baby It's Cold Outside and Other Types of Weather

It's 60 degrees out.  That probably doesn't seem like a big deal, however, it is January 21 and I am in Hamburg, NY. (Hamburg, NY is a town just outside of the City of Buffalo and where I sit I am equally as far from the city as I am the stadium that the beloved Buffalo Bills play in Orchard Park. Back to the weather...)

I have this calendar, "Make the Most of Everyday" and on each day is two check boxes. One with a suggested activity and another with blank lines that you can fill in.  Today's suggestion: "Have a snowball fight"  This is the THIRD time this month my calendar has suggested a snowy activity that I could not partake in as there is no snow to be had! Add in, that today, in particular, the temperature is nowhere near where it needs to be in order to have snow!  I am sad.  I understand that there is a majority of people running around today thrilled with the temperature and enjoying it the fact that they do not need to bundle up and even more thrilled that they do not have to shovel any snow.  I, however, would like to have a snow fight.

Don't get me wrong, I love the 60-degree weather, when appropriate. I personally do not believe 60-degree weather is necessary for Buffalo in the middle of January.  I like winter.  I like that we can enjoy all four seasons in this part of the country, I would just like to enjoy them for a few months each rather than all in one week!  We have also experienced snow in MAY in this area and as much as I love the snow, in May, though, I am inclined to be looking forward to fields of flowers flourishing, not frost.

Complaining about the weather is something I tend not to do mostly due to the fact that this is simply something I and, as far as I know, no one has control over. Yes, we have meteorologists, however, the best they can do is predict the weather, they cannot change or control it. In light of this information, I am very accepting of weather and it tends not to determine my mood.  I am aware that it can and does affect a variety of people in a variety of ways and I understand some of the moods are contingent on things such as getting enough Vitamin D.  So when the weather is less than pleasant, my suggestion is, try to find something that you really enjoy doing and do it.  No reason to let a rainy day get you down. (Personally, I really enjoy bringing out my inner seven-year-old and go out and jump in the puddles.)

There is enough in this world that can get us down but don't let the weather be one of them.  Build forts in the snow, sing in the rain, lay silently in the shade and enjoy some quiet when it's too hot to move about, find a way to enjoy the weather for what it is ... temporary.

It Is Time

Many of you are familiar with the website that shows shoppers of a particular chain discount store, (I am not mentioning the website by name because I have no intentions of promoting it, you will understand why as you read further.) That website is a good indication of what is wrong in the world. No, not the people who are shown in the pictures or videos but the people who take them and the people who partake in laughing at them.

You know what the difference between that, or a video on youtube of someone falling or doing something not so bright and America's Funniest Videos?  Do you?  The people in the AFV video are typically family or friends who know the video is being submitted. The other websites and such are taken by complete strangers and put up without the permission of those being objectified.  (Objectified: To treat someone as an object rather than a person)
It's not funny to me. And before you go on a tangent how I think I am better than everyone else, isn't that what people are doing by putting these things on the internet?

Adults complain about "kids these days don't know how to interact, they are always on their phones"! Guess what?  SO ARE YOU!? What's worse is you don't see it! And to compound the problem, you don't see what you are teaching the next generations.

Let me give another example:
I was walking with some friends through a parking lot, my boot got caught and I went down. One minute I was standing having a conversation with them and the next I was flat on the parking lot and they were looking around as though "Where'd she go!?" Of course, when then found me on the ground (without blood streaming or any broken parts) they laughed. Hard. We all laughed. It hurt. My knee was badly bruised but we all laughed.  The difference between that and if someone had taken a video and put it on youtube is - If after a few moments we found out it was more serious my friends would have stayed in the emergency room with me all night if it had come to that. They would have checked in on me days later. They would have laughed with me when we told the story together. They would not have speculated why I had fallen because they know why and they would not have judged me by that one moment.  The stranger that hypothetically videoed and posted such an incident would not have cared about me in any way.  The only things they would have been thinking is "how many likes and shares can I get for this" and THAT is the problem.  We are not seeing each other as people anymore.

It's time to put down the phones and the cameras and take out our compassion.  It's been missing for far too long.