Bye, Bye February

Ahhhhh, the seasons.  Gotta love 'em because they put things in perspective.  No matter where you live, you feel that moment when winter will move out and spring will roll in with all her green and gold and blossoms and sometimes turbulence.  We love the warm seasons, but without the cold ones, we'd have no anticipation, no thrill at the sunshine and warmth emerging over the horizon, seeming to penetrate our blood and bones and waking us as well as all of the rest of nature.  The poets often use the seasons to clearly capture the cycles in life.  Age, grief, struggles, all follow the pattern.  Shelley muses, "O Wind, if Winter come, can Spring be far behind?"  Yes, even the old adage "Where there's life, there's hope" confirms it.  Wise readers will note that winter will come back too.  Oh, amen to that, and we need to be aware.  Shaw wryly  and rightly comments "If nothing were wrong, we'd have nothing to do."  Strange but true.  We'll always have obstacles, problems, even tragedies, but most of us find the strength to dig deep, find the bright light, the spring in our souls, and rise like the new grass pushing through the hard-frozen earth.  Yeah, sounds dramatic, but people do that every day, every day and honor the life they have and LIVE.  That's no small task and deserves a little homage, eh?  That's it, that's the spirit I trust to take us through all of our rough spots, as individuals, as a country, as a universal consciousness.  Oh to wave a wand and have EVERYONE tap into that and operate with honor and wisdom.  The seasons will come and go, no matter what.  How we handle each, how we react to what happens, how we treat each other during each season...ahhhhh, there's the challenge.  Are we up to it?  No doubt in my mind.  As Faulkner put it,  "I believe that man (mankind) will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance."  Look, here's spring on the near horizon.  Let's dance her into our lives and thrive on her energy and promise.