Some people actually miss the ice

We attended the Vishten performance a week ago. It was an entirely pleasurable experience. The performers had the most beautiful, pure voices I had heard in a long time. They sang in French and that added to the enjoyment. I think that without the distraction of words I can truly hear the music.

Towards the end of the show one of the performers remarked that his native Magdalen Island usually was connected to other islands in the Canadian area by ice in the winter. They became as one. But this winter there was no ice. This was very bad for the fishermen and others who depended on that ice and that connection for a living. He spoke of it as one would speak of a lost love.

All through the show he had reminded me of our friend, Richard. They were both tall and lanky. They both had dark hair. They were both filled with the optimism of youth. Only one of them could sing. It wasn't Richard.

True, Richard is long gone. He lost his battle with lung cancer many years ago. But when the performer talked of global warming, he reminded me of the passion that we all had when Richard was alive. We were young. We were the ones who were going to save the world. We had hope.

It is fitting that hope should be a topic this time of year. Spring is almost here. The earth is awakening and we yearn to go outside and feel the fleeting sun on our souls. We once again vow to change the world and make it a better place.

I have seen more people outdoors during the last warm spell than I saw all winter. Homeowners are making their surroundings look better by picking up the trash that has accumulated during the winter. For anyone thinking of planting bushes of any kind in order to improve the appearance of your property - please be aware that trash is magnetically attracted to bushes. Anything plastic will jump at the first shrub it can find and wrap itself around the trunk. This will happen even if all trash receptacles are covered and nobody litters. It is just the way things are.

For all the naysayers who think things are terrible because all our shrubs have plastic entwined in their branches and believe that we have ruined this planet of ours, let me remind them that our cities are no longer covered with soot. We have clean water. We have access to health care, even if it is expensive. On average, we live longer than our predecessors did. For the most part, we no longer have gun-slingers in the streets.

Due to that long-lost ambition to improve the way things are, we have succeeded in ways our ancestors never imagined. Life will never be perfect. Young people don't realize that something is impossible to do. They only know that something isn't right and are determined to fix it.

No ice? We can figure out how to return the climate to what it used to be. Can't be done? Watch me!

There will always be problems for our young and old people to fix. There will always be injustice in the world.

Most of us only wish that things could be better. It is the ones who are filled with outrage at the lack of ice who will figure out how to improve what needs to be improved.

It is the tall, lanky singers who pursue their passion and in the process make the rest of realize that a lack of ice in a tiny part of the world affects all of us. Even if I can't understand the words to their songs. Everyone makes a difference.[[In-content Ad]]