Thursday, February 03, 2011

Snow day Scrooges

Just over a month ago, many people were complaining that the True Spirit of Christmas has been lost in a sea of rampant commercialism.

Yesterday, many people were complaining that kids got a snow day even though the weather ended up not being as bad as originally forecast.

It surprised me the extent to which the two groups overlapped, because you know what a snow day actually is? The embodiment of the True Spirit of Christmas!

A snow day is a gift from the heavens and an answer to everyone's prayers. It's a day spent with one's family, enjoying the simple things in life like a nice sleep-in, building a snowman, and drinking hot chocolate, and respecting and appreciating the power and beauty of Mother Nature. Warring siblings develop temporary truces, knowing they're stuck together and wanting to get the most out of this rare opportunity. And happy memories are made that will last a lifetime.

These are the kinds of things many people in our society claim to value, and most parents claim to want their children to value. They're used to sell us trucks and Tim Hortons and political platforms, and they're what people have in mind when decrying the commercialism of life. So why throw it all away just because it might slow down the wheels of commerce a wee bit for one day?

2 comments:

laura k said...

Ha! Very true. I hadn't thought about it that way.

I thought people were complaining about Toronto being wimpy about snow (who cares, why do we need to be macho about snow?), and about the weather news being so alarmist, hyping a huge storm that didn't materialize. But complaining about kids getting a snow day - that is some serious grinching.

impudent strumpet said...

I do think the storm was objectively overhyped, but frankly it felt like part of the fun. The adult version of snow day anticipation. All us kids who spent cold winter nights peering out the window with our eyes peeled for snowflakes have now grown up and acquired access to weather radar and satellite imagery.