Years ago, I was shoveling snow next to my neighbor, who never spoke to me. Suddenly the snowplow came by, just as we had finished our driveway jobs, and ploughed us in with thick, crusty snow. My neighbor said, "Who do they think they are? Darth Vader?" He was furious. He never spoke to me again.
But that's the great thing about snow. Here in the north, snow gives us that most precious thing: a common enemy. I have had warm conversations with perfect strangers who are armed with a snow shovel. The other day, a man I didn't know saw me struggling with viscous snow at the end of my driveway. He backed up his truck, complete with snowplow, and pushed back the white stuff for me. He then drove off without a word. Call this my Lone Ranger Snow Experience. Who was that man?
I theorize that when we have a heavy snow, we forget our differences about climate change, abortion, gun rights, taxes, and the electoral college. We concentrate on the fine art of snow removal. Once upon a time, the old Soviet Union played this role of the common foe that unites us all. Once the Cold War ended, we started having all these polarized fissures.
Now our only mutual adversary is snow. We need more and more of it if we are to be one among many. And so I say, "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."
This is Tom McBride, and that's my perspective
