I got to thinking that we survived the grindingly slow advance of the all important election which actually was the swale of a sea change in American politics.  We survived only to find ourselves on the brink of upcoming seasons.

I hope I get it right and predict that this hurricane season will end with Paloma going off into the Atlantic and will not be followed by any other named storms coming in off of the summer warmed sea.  I really don’t want to put up my hurricane shutters anymore this season.  We are leaving next week for a Caribbean cruise and I really don’t want to fool with them even though I bought a can of silicon spray.  They are great to have but hard for ME to lean out and open them.

When you think of seasons you don’t usually think of the storms – rain down here in Florida or snow storms up north.  You think in terms of the people who swap locations.  Our first northerners arrived to take possession of their empty apartment.  We are expecting the traffic on the streets and highways to swell because of the snowbirds who want to share our Florida Sunshine.

But it isn’t only weather that preoccupies us.  We are busy washing the grimy Bush politics away to get at the real heart of America, doing good things for ALL the people - rather than continue to feather the nests of the richest few described as the “haves” and “have mores”.  The political jobs looming ahead require that attention must be paid to the new Administration to help it find its way to correct past injustices and create new programs that will help the haves-little and have nots.  This is one important season that will require constant watching and helping when that help is needed.  The one great thing about democracy is that it belongs to all the people – the “demos” – rather than the rich, the well off and those who are ept at taking advantages that are all around us all the time – if we would just look and see.

I see coming a season of GREEN, that is to say, when we take  very seriously curbing our carbon contribution to the pollution that shames the world.  We kill off species by spears, arrows, guns and now cutting away their habitats and filling the air we all breathe with our un-breathable contributions.

The seasons ahead will be future elections and seasons of building and repairing.  Our part of the world needs more than band-aids.  The wars we are fighting must end and a period of peace ushered in so that all peoples may bask in the sunshine of a new time when we sit down at tables to solve our problems rather than take up swords,  guns and uniforms to fight to make things better.