Despite the wickedness brought by the winter’s weather, I am already beginning to sense the inevitability of spring. The beginning of a thaw. It always happens when I hear four simple words: pitchers and catchers report.
But this year it is more than just baseball and excitement about my Cardinals having the best first baseman in baseball once again.
The difference this year is that I don’t simply want spring to come, I need it. And not solely because we have dealt with heavy snow, polar vortexes, thermal whiplash, and IceRain.
We have an immature President who verbally vomits into the microphone and a Congress who either responds in kind or, even worse, remains silent. We have an over-reactive media that jumps to conviction and judgment while never looking at itself as an institution.
Closer to home, we have a city, Rockford, at the cusp of turning a corner and beating the odds by crawling out of a recession and low employment – but one that must do so while recognizing the current violence and economic disparity that continues to exist.
Finally, I find myself working in Higher Education, a profession at a crossroads of sorts, as Institutions of all types try to discover their place within a 21st century reality. Indeed, industries and institutions of all types face a similar question.
I have a sense that something is coming. And without having the answer to any of this, but striving to remain hopeful through it all, what I do know is that the snow will melt, the grass will grow, and somewhere someone will soon shout out: “play ball!”
I’m Michael Perry and that’s my perspective.
