Let’s face it, this time of year sucks. No one is debating that. It’s cold, it’s snowy, and worst of all, it’s February. We are so far down winter’s throat that I can see what it had for dinner—my will to live.
Still, I can’t help but think that everyone has gotten so dramatic about winter. Lest we forget, the Hudson used to regularly freeze over. Nowadays, the second the temperature drops below 40-degrees in the city, people start dressing like Jack London in the Yukon. Canada Goose should be illegal to sell beneath the 50th Parallel. Matter of fact, if you are wearing any outdoor clothing that is rated for survival while within eyesight of a Van Leeuwen, you should be put in jail. Ok, I’ll calm down.
What I’m trying to say is, when did we get so soft? In HBO’s miniseries, John Adams, John Quincy Adams asks his father about an upcoming trip to Russia where he would serve as secretary to lawyer and ambassador, Francis Dana.
“Will it be very cold there, Father?” Young Adams asks.
“Good heavens, no.” Says John Adams. “Not for a Massachusetts man.”
I think about this response daily. Maybe it’s time we dig deep and find whatever shred of founding-father countenance is left within us. We should be out taking constitutionals in the cold, frolicking in snow drifts, wearing tricornered hats and pantaloons. Ok, we can scratch the last one. My point is, this is the northeast—being cold and miserable is your birthright.
I’ll leave you with another great back-and-forth, this one from President Jed Bartlet of NBC’s, The West Wing, while he is traveling with the First Lady to their Inauguration Parade.
BARTLET: Too cold for a parade. Bunch of tanned-ass Southerners.
ABBEY: That decision was made by your Inauguration Chariman, who’s from Massachusetts.
BARTLET: Which is to the south of New Hampshire. Don’t tell me geographic stereotypes.
ABBEY: You would’ve been happy walking up Pennsylvania Avenue in this cold?
BARTLET: I walked to school every morning in weather colder than this.
ABBEY: From the headmaster’s house to your classroom.
BARTLET: That’s right, baby. Just a camel hair coat, leather gloves, a varsity scarf and these wits.
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Be like President Bartlet, don’t resign yourself to DoorDash and movie marathons so soon.
