dirty snow.

Winter. Such a fabulous time of year. There are cold temperatures, little to no wildlife, and snow. Ah, snow. It is a thing of beauty. The little icy wonders float down to this impure world and stick to the frozen ground. More and more pour from heaven. One by one. And then they accumulate upon the tundra, making everything frozen in time, quiet in the still vastness of... snow. More than 6 inches of the beautiful heaven-fluff is preferred, but really any measurable amount of the beautfulness is amazing.

Snow has been quite abundant for the midwest this winter. And I've loved every minute of it! [except for the minutes that I didn't get to go visit School because of the snow and cold weather... but I'm not bitter]. The temperatures have been far, far below freezing and so the snow has stayed. The first snow was slightly before Christmas, and now on the 11th of January in the year of our Lord 2010, it's finally starting to melt. I am not happy about this, but I'm not unhappy about it either. There comes a time when winter needs to man up and be spring already. I will miss the snow and it's frozen goodness, and I'll even miss the ice and it's slippery disposition. But there is a side to snow I will not miss...

One cannot blame snow for its ugly side, no, it's merely a fact of life. The snow falls pure and white from the sky, it settles on the ground, and then it turns black from the salt and dust and tire dirt that lays on the road. It's disgusting, it smells bad, and it's just not pretty! It drives me nuts! Here are fairytale like houses covered in blankets of snow, all tucked in for winter. And then there is the ugly road in front of it, with charcoal gray splatters of ICK. It's gross. It makes me feel slummy and dirty and I just want to take a shower afterwards.

And then I thought about it... How much of life do we blanket in a facade of beauty? We plaster on a smile, and it's pretty and our teeth are white but really: it's cold and emotionless. Underneith the snow is that same dirt that shows up on the sides of the roads, only we don't see it because it's all covered up. The unhappiness, the pain, the bad-things are covered up, but that doesn't mean they don't still exist. The world is very much like those sooty drifts, it's just more noticeable when you try to cover them up! However, there's hope; in the words of Matthew Theissen, the end of winter makes way for spring.

I spoke to a friend about winter today. He said that he would rather be in summer weather but he likes winter clothes. He then came to the conclusion that either way, we're just trying to be warm so why not stick with summer? Why not stick with the truth? Why not stick with the state of being in which everything becomes clear? I deeply appreciate snow, I deeply appreciate cold, but at the end of the day I want real. I want to see the world just how it is, not blanketed with fakeness. If that means sunshine and Cherry Tree blossoms and swimming suits [the article of clothing I live in during the summer] so be it! I'd rather have warmth.

No dirty snow, just a dirty world.