School in the Winter?

An article by Jerry Lembcke on telegram.com discusses how unnatural our normal life in the winter is. As the argument starts out Limbcke describes a beautiful winter morning that the French Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau must have experienced while writing some of his greatest works. The morning is clear, cold, and most of all white. The whole earth appears to be blanketed by a thick layer of snow, but above all else there is quiet. Lembcke goes on to describe the scene outside of his apartment after a snow storm: “From my window I watch a front-end loader clear the snow left by the recent blizzard from our parking lot, its engine growling, its bucket clanging against the dump truck. In an hour the snow will be gone so that I and other drivers can get our cars on the road.” Lembcke has beautifully contrasted this harsh scene with the winter wonderland that he described earlier. This is an excelent way to make us think on how unnatural our winter activities are, going about life the same way we would if it were 75° outside. Lembcke then uses contrast again by comparing this behavior to the behavior of animals: who either move, hibernate or slow way down during the cold winter months. At this point he really has us wondering why we do what we do during the winter…and Lembcke anticipates this.  “We truck in fuel for machines to uncover our snow-covered cars that will get us onto streets and roads cleared by whole caravans of snowplows burning millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, all to get us to schools and workplaces artificially heated and lighted by oil and coal moved vast distances by trucks, trains, and pumps. At day’s end, we return to homes unnaturally heated and lighted by more fuel, where we eat food moved to us from where it was grown, hundreds of miles away.” Lembcke’s argument is that we need to start putting ourselves at an inconveinience in order to give nature a chance to recover from the harsyh abuse that we have put onto it. This can be done in a number of ways he says, and one of these is rethinking the schoolyear. How could this help the environment? many, including myself pondered this. The answer, like many from this piece, is simple. Fuel. Schools spend outrageous amounts of money on heating during the winter, and while school during the summer could prevent heating costs, would it solve the real problem?

The Change in the Seasons

Fall, the ending of summer, the onset of winter, or autumn, whatever you call it fall is a season of change, and of memories. Smells are be a very powerful trigger of memories, and fall is full of many distinct smells. Whether it’s the smell of leaves crunching under foot, a brisk cool wind, Halloween candy or grandma’s special apple or pumpkin pie, all of these smells bring back memories, good or bad. Most of the autumn time smells and the memories are very fond for me, and many of them have taken place outside. I love the smell of Halloween candy, of raking leaves, of cool morning in the woods. One of my very fondest memories of fall was the first day of raccoon trapping season. This was my first year trapping, my uncle had recommended it to me during the summer and it had really sparked my interest. I watched YouTube videos on trapping, read books, did a online trappers safety course, and got more and more interested and exited as I went along the way. As the season neared I bought my traps, and readied myself for the first of November. After a very long 3 weeks of anticipation November first finally arrived. I could barely focus all day in school,  for this was going to be the day when all of my research, scouting, and anticipation would have their test. My dad drove me out to the creek where I had scouted for raccoons and I set the traps. I still remember the dinner of delicious chili that I hardly touched because of my anticipation for the following morning. That night I hardly slept at all, and anytime I eventually dozed off my dreams were full of the raccoons that I was hoping I would catch in the morning. Finally after the longest night of my life, my alarm rang at 6:45. I had the pleasure of riding my bike on that cool, clear morning. My mind was occupied the entire way on the bounties that might await me in those small metal traps that I put half a Milky Way in. Just as I was about to take my final turn, a thought hit me. That I probably didn’t catch anything. This thought of disappointment in my mind, imagine my delight when I turned the corner and saw a raccoon sitting in my trap! Now the reason I told you of my first trapping experience was not to get you interested in trapping (although I hope you are) but rather to tell you of the excitement and adventure that happens in the outdoors. I had never imagines that I would somehow have the luck of obtaining a raccoon from a candy bar and a 15$ trap, so the excitement that filled me when I received my prize was overwhelming. I still remember the smell of those leaves, the beautiful sunrise that covered the eastern horizon as I journeyed toward my destination. These fond memories will never leave me, and I hold them near and dear to my heart. Many others have experiences in the outdoors that will stay with them forever, for some it might be the vista they enjoyed after a long day of hiking, some it might be a summer at the lake house, and yet for others it might be of that calm place they love to go and sit in in the woods. Whatever the memories, all of them originated in nature, in the great outdoors, under a sky full of stars, or under a burning hot sun. The feeling that you experience in the outdoors, whether they be in the summer, winter, fall, or spring are some of the greatest you can have, and thus I issue a challenge to you. That each and every one of you who hasn’t been able to stake your claim to one of these fond memories goes and obtains one. That you go exploring in the woods, go canoeing on the river, or anything else that is of your liking. Some of you may also have children who have not been able to experience these things as well, and I encourage you to give them this gift that is much more lasting than the next X-Box game. In short I challenge you to challenge yourself to do things that you normally wouldn’t do, and to do those things outside. I don’t pretend that you will have instant happiness if you do these things, but I can tell you of the happiness that they have brought to me. I love the outdoors and will for the rest of my life, however long or short it may be, and however much I am able to enjoy the amazing, utterly amazing, outdoors.