The hints of winter remind us what is to come: snow squalls, icy storms, those horrendous wind chills and descending temperatures.
   We can only imagine what is ahead of us, our fears augmented by seasonal memories of the coldest nights, frostbitten fingers, slipping and slipping on highways, and slip and falls on neglected sidewalks.
   Our minds can go way back in time documenting wicked winters, but we still must think of the present, and the future, and the vulnerable. The unhoused and the hungry will struggle with what is ahead: the birds and the people.
   Is it within our humanity to find simple charity, a gesture in kind, shelter, food when required, a hand up to those who need it?
   It is the season to feel more than the frigid temperatures.

11/20/2022                                                                                                    j.g.l.