Spring in the Mid-West

Spring in the Middle West. . .does not come all of a sudden as if it had been waiting all the time around the corner. No. It takes a long time to get ready. First, it has to clean up after Winter.

“You got any snow left, old man,” Spring says to Winter, “You get rid of it now because it won’t keep until next year. And make it snappy! I want to move in now.”

Then it snows like it never snowed before. Old-timers sit around the stove and say it’s Winter’s last howl. Winter is getting pretty tired by then – getting rid of all that snow-and he limps up north to join the other Winters waiting there.

Then Spring hollers: “Hey, Sun! Let’s go.”

Sun leans down and breathes hard on Snow and makes it change into water. First, Water fills peoples’ basements, then the street gutters. Then it fills up the River.

“Take it easy, Spring, will you?” Says River. “I’m getting high on water. I can take just so much and no more.” The old-timers say, “worst flood in years! Its in all the papers.”

Spring says, Okay, Sun. That’s it! Get lost for a few days.”

And Spring calls in the Four Winds. They all blow in at once. “Hey, fellers, clean up that mess down there, will you? And make it quick. I am running late this year.”

So Winds blow every which way. They get rid of all the water all right, but they get excited and knock off chimneys and pull up trees and lift up houses and set them down on River. Old-timers say, “I’ll take a blizzard any day. They can keep their tornadoes.”

Spring says, “Hold it, Winds. Don’t overdo it. You can beat it now. But you, South Wind, stick around, I need you.”

“Anything I can do for you, Spring, just ask,” says South Wind.

“Okay! Blow me in, boy. Blow me in gently and blow around me when I’m in.”

And then it is Spring. (Joy in the Morning Betty Smith)

"Three Cups of Tea"

In his book, "Three Cups of Tea", Greg Mortenson speaks of his efforts to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "...slowly, we can encourage modern education, encourage the people to send boys and girls to school. If we invest, it will come back to us. We have to deal with problems of tradition and culture. But we can stop extremism. If people are educated, we can fight against poverty, cruelty and injustice," said Shaukat Ali, a former Kashmiri freedom fighter and Taliban member who now teaches at the Gundi Piran school. In particular, educating girls is the ticket to fighting terrorism. Greg's organization, the Central Asia Institute, has built over 50 schools in remote areas. Ignorance is the enemy.