More snow than we’ve seen in the past 75 years is headed our way, the news reporters scream over the television. Anxious anticipation spreads throughout the city. Grocery stores are packed with city dwellers preparing for the natural event. I even thought twice about not going to a friends going away party Saturday night for fear of being caught in the flurry of large white snow flakes sure to bring the city to its knees right before my eyes. But as the party ensued that night, nothing. When the last of the party goers rolled out of the restaurant at three in the morning there was barely a flake in the sky.
When I woke from my comatose of slumber at two that Sunday afternoon I was sure I would see white laced streets, but again nothing. Monday! The snow will slam us as it did D.C., those sissies that can barely deal with a rain storm. But here we are this Monday faced with cold winds whipping at us, while it’s oddly sunny out. So sunny in fact that the birds could not help themselves as they sang throughout the morning, courtesy of living along tree lined streets a block away with Central Park. Now it’s not to say that a severe snow storm is not inconvenient but it has its up sides. It’s pretty. You can make snow balls and snow angles in patches of clean snow, and yes there are places you can find clean snow right after its’ fallen in NYC.
With all the hype and then nary a snow flake to be seen, its hard not to feel let-down. Like when your parents promised you ice cream and then forgot and sent you to bed early, or the promise of universal health care and then we get nothing but the same old outrageously expensive premiums, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs. Along with feelings of nausea when Republicans claim that government should not interfere with the “peoples” lives by pushing universal healthcare on us a while in the same breath claiming abortion should be illegal whether the decision is handed down from the federal level or the state level. Sorry I don’t speak the language of self-serving bullshit. How is the governments refusal to allow same-sex couple’s the right to marry, or women the right to choose (whether you agree or not) less intrusive than the right to affordable and universal healthcare for all?
From the let-down of the promise of the biggest snow-storm in decades to the lack of healthcare reform while the freedoms of individuals are consistently stripped away, it’s hard not to feel let-down on this blistery Monday afternoon.
Say What?!