Today is an ugly day. Minus 2 degrees and it is raining. As I drove to the yoga class that wasn't on today, I could see the coat of ice building up on the branches and trees along the road. Peoples driveways glistened like hockey rinks and front yards, still covered with snow, gleamed like fine china. It is supposed to warm up in the afternoon and then the rain will just collect in hollows and pot-holes so that when it drops in temperature tonight, it can freeze and make everything just a little more treacherous. This must be the part of winter people warn you about when you say you are moving to the East Coast. When the snow falls softly and quietly and lays gently on the land, it is so pretty and here they do such an excellent job of keeping roads clear. But there is little that can be done about the ice. The roads can be salted, but the driveways and barnyards are a bit more problematic. Must remember to take my calcium and do some weight-lifting this afternoon to keep my bones strong.
I spend a fair bit of time on the internet lately, lately dividing my time between a spiritual forum and a vegetarian forum. For a while I was also looking at one about the environment. The problem with these kind of arenas (forums) is that you can't discern body language or tone of voice so misunderstandings are frequent and in some instances these devolve into heated arguments. I've made a point of learning to be respectful and only offer opinion that is supported by the testimony of "experts" on the issue by linking to other websights in the body of my replies. For example, I recently was on the spiritual forum and someone started a thread about vegetarianism and spirituality, and I made a remark and included a link to an article that discussed a study recently put out by Dalhouse University on the subject of the environment and meat consumption. And while I've given this as an example of how one might back up a viewpoint with outside legitimate information, I'm not speaking of this discussion specifically. But the thing that I notice, regardless of what the subject is, that all to often, people don't even read the supporting information but instead are satisfied to just use "in my opinion" like that counts for anything in a discussion on the environment or health or....
The internet is a universe of information on any subject you can think of and it just boggles the mind that so many of its users don't take advantage of those who are experts and have put the information out there, apparently choosing instead to display their lack of understanding and insight on whatever the issue is. It always reminds of when I see the media do man on the street kind of interviews and they'll ask some person a question and the answer is so goofy that you are just speechless. Personally, I make a point of not responding if I don't know the subject, if all I can comeback with is "well in my opinion...." You're asking to get shot down if you do that.
But soon the weather will change and the garden will call out to me, "Debby, come out, I need to be dug/planted/moved!", and then the forums and annoying people will take a back seat to real life. Thank goodness for gardens! By the way, the picture is not my garden, but you needed something beautiful to take your mind off the drabness outside, so accept this offering of beauty and maybe one day the garden photo will be mine and it will be as lovely. Peace and joy to you on this March morning.
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