We had a delightful visit last night from Phil and Jennifer Soong Peters who had come down to South Beach seeing the sights and then up to our place to visit and have dinner out.  Jennifer was a student of Carol’s fourth grade in Ranney School and she had Googled our name, found us and an agreement to meet, dine and see our apartment was worked out.  They came from a colder climate (the Atlanta area in Georgia) and had not expected it to be so cold.  Carol insisted that Jennifer wear a winter coat she had and despite the cold we had a successful visit.  They had not expected that Florida could be as cold as it was yesterday and this morning we found that, indeed, cold weather had dipped down from the north to chill us and we will have to dress warmly for a while.

Cold is a relative thing – like heat. It can get you into arguments about the degree in one direction or another and makes comfort a thing to quarrel about.  Some people we know are hot all the time and while the rest of us are keeping on outer wear, they are busing sweating and fanning themselves.  It is a matter of inner thermostats set at different points on the thermometer and it depends on the individual.  It is much like the differences between OPEN the window types and CLOSE the window crowd because one either wants or cannot stand fresh air.  This, too, is relative. It is not enough to fight over – but is it?

Relativity is perception among other things.  All you need is for someone to remark on the temperature and the rest will suddenly be aware that it is either too warm or too cold.  Hunger is another.  One person is starving while others are quite full.  Reality tells us that some people actually suffer from hunger and our eyes tell us that there are too many who are obese and this is a shame while starvation is killing off the populations of countries where people eat dirt to fill their emptiness.

Peace and war are other examples of relativity.  When diplomats get together some will see the glass of conflict half full or half empty.  Others will claim that there is an actual war going on when there is disagreement about what is meant by war.  Some people getting killed in internecine contacts can be counted as incidents while others see such deaths as deliberate murders – genocide - in acts of war.

To combat the coolness of this morning I turned on the heat and put on a jacket inside my house.  To combat war around the world I shut my eyes and jabbed a finger at the reports to choose the one that really was at war and which I could handle.  Too many hot spots in the news make war a reality for me – others think that is the natural way of life. I think it is time to work out the language that divides you from me and have us agree on heat and cold, hunger, overfeeding and war and peace.