Hope stirs as days grow longer

Another winter solstice in the tank. The days grow longer from here on in.

I find that a hopeful thing. 

Not that you see much reason for hope when you look around...

But that's not true either. It depends on where you are when you look around.

If you're looking around from your perch in an urban homeless encampment, ya, probably not much reason for hope.

When you follow the news, which I do to a clinically pathological extent, it's easy to think there's no hope in the world whatsoever. 

Putin's on the brink of starting a nuclear war over Ukraine.

China's on the brink of annexing Taiwan, and possibly Australia.

And while all those existential threats are threatening you, you're also being existentially threatened by a certain deadly virus that's gosh-darn sure to terminate your existence pronto if you don't get booster shot 17...

That's a shit-load of existential threats, and I understand why it weighs heavily on everyone, and why one-time sensible people line up for booster dose 22 of the safe and effective vaccine.

Then again, when I turn off the screen and look around me, I realize I'm not living on the street, not homeless, not hungry, not existentially threatened in any way whatsoever.

That's because I'm a country bumpkin who lives among farmers. There's food growing all over the place in these parts.

There's also a deer season. And a local fishing industry. Let's not forget the wild leeks and the fiddle-heads. Crisp and delicious apples, one of nature's most perfect foods, fall in the ditch and rot by the ton on the country roads around here.

Maybe that makes it easier to be hopeful.