As the winter deepens we begin to look with regret that we weren’t a little more frivolous with our time during the hot days of summer. We recall the vacation-like atmosphere that spring, summer and fall engender pulling us from worker ant pursuits and have us think of jumping into pools and water and going to the beach.  Here in Florida all the seasons blend into one except for the threat and fulfillment of nasty thunder-storms and hurricanes.  One of our favorite solutions against the impossible power of nature is to fool it with costumes and rituals to ask for treats instead of threatening tricks – a familiar political trick of old.

It is the season to be wary for our weariness of the cold keeping us indoors makes us want to be less inclined to be safe and to get out there and fight against the forces of nature. We must respect youth and its desire to fall down hills on thin sticks of wood or boards and throw snow balls in impromptu wars against other guys who put up snow forts in defense. Snug in our oil or gas heated caves we sometimes get to thinking about plans to change the world when the winter loses its grip on us. Even the poor are fooled into thinking change can favor them.

I am thinking about the season which is always with us – the season to be wary of the promises of re-growth of life in spring and long lazy days when the sun and rain bring bountiful harvests.  It is also the time to test the promises of politicians and developers who whet our tastes for luxurious new condominiums and reconstruction of crumbling waterfronts.  It is a time for boundless building and holding out the hope for work that will be meaningful and enable us to live better lives. It is always the time to think that we deserve more than some are willing to pay. It is always the time to wonder why the rich grow rich and the poor stay poor.

But this season, like all seasons is a season to be wary and listen carefully to the cries of wolves in the hills and bad intentions of opponents and that mistakes of the past were well-intentioned and really for our own good.  So, be like good little voters and troop off to the polls and vote them in again.  But, be wary.  The new ones whom we haven’t seen do more than throw dirt, haven’t yet had a chance to pull down the edifices erected by their predecessors, about whom it is said, it is time to go.  It is always a time for change for that is the constant, fight it though we may.

When will we elect progressives instead of conservatives?  When will we be humanitarians and fix Darfur and other places like it? When will the time come when war will be no more and we need not be wary any more? When will we learn to use democracy rather than be used by those who control it? When will we not have to be wary and frightened anymore? We could try and start right now.