Photo: Winter Avian Paradise - Horace Mann Plaza Springfield, IL
Photo: Red Berry Tree Upon A Blue Winter Sky - Springfield, Illinois
Winter is harsh. So tough in fact that most people regret having to reach over to turn their alarm clocks off in the morning for they know they have to face some small segment of their day braving the cold.
For some it means getting their cars started, and waiting until their heaters warm their cars up so they don't have to touch a cold steering wheel. If they're lucky the worst part of their winter experience may be walking from their car into the office.
For other people the dry winter air is the worst part of winter. Many may spend part of their morning waxing their lips with chapstick, and then moisturizing their hands to prevent the desert like effects that central heating has upon their skin.
But these are inconveniences really.
While most people resent the high cost of keeping their homes warm in the winter we know that we'd never make it through the winter without all the modern contraptions we take for granted that keep us toasty warm four months out of the year.
We are vastly more fragile than previous generations when it comes to the way we deal with winter. Our fragility while not reflected in our actual experience of winter is revealed in our dependence upon a complex system of keeping us alive during these arctic like months.
Imagine the pain we would suffer if one winter morning we discovered that some terrorist group had attacked our local power plant, and disabled our only source of electricity?
Even natural gas, and oil based furnace systems depend upon electricity to deliver heat throughout the home.
As you'd awaken that horrible tragic morning the first thing you'd notice is your alarm clock not going off, and no lights coming on when you pressed the switch.
Only slowly would it dawn upon you that the winter which you never took seriously before was quickly oozing through the walls of your modern home to greet your every touch - your every breath.
You'd notice your breath hanging in the air in front of you, and your toes would curl as they touched the cold floors. Your windows, despite the light they'd allow into your home, would become your worst enemy.
You might look over at your fireplace, and wonder how long you could keep warm with your meager stack of wood. Not long at all, not long at all - perhaps a day or two, or perhaps less.
Panic would strike you after discovering that the entire region you lived in, and hunderds of thousands of your fellow citizens were facing a similar situation.
How could this be? How could this be, you'd ask yourself repeatedly. But no one would be there to answer. That night from the warmth of the Oval Office your nation's leader might speak in inspiration tones, telling you that help was coming, but you'd be too scared to waste your only remaining batteries listening to speeches.
It wouldn't matter anyway, for it would be too late for talk. Too late for talk as the winter would bare down upon you like never before.
Winter.
Cold, dark winter.
The foe of a thousand generations would have you by the throat, and the only choice left to anyone in your spot would be the same as that of any nomadic tribesman living a thousand years ago - to flee.
One of the reasons I get so angry with the Bush administration isn't because I hate my country, or because I hate rich people, or because I hate people who only care about rich people.
I love my country, and believe down to my very core that all the tax dollars, lives, and time wasted since 9-11 hasn't made any of us in this nation safer from a terrorist attack.
Meanwhile winter awaits.
Photographs: This berry filled tree is located on the south side of Horace Mann Plaza. I guess putting a nest in a tree filled with berries is a pretty good idea. They look very pleasant indeed, but it was extremely cold when I captured these images, and they must be frozen solid.
The low hanging sun in the southern sky, which is present in the "nest photo", lends a hopeful radiance. It's funny how in the winter even a bit of sunlight can have such a tremendous effect. Life will find a way.
