Summer solstice, June 21, came and went last month. The day arrived and departed without notice, a non event. Today, 30 days later, there’s boundless buzz as the temp hits 100 degrees. Weather persons are a frenzy of hyperbole as they try to out-do themselves. The municipal pools are a mad house of splashing, screaming kids. We all now have an excuse now to do nothing but relax in torpor because the TV weatherman told us not to go out. Stay home and watch TV he warned.

Meaning? Does media temperature hyperbole have any meaning?

Yes. The news writers can resuscitate the “Global Warming/we’re all going to die” meme at the very time when they need it most since all other news dries up.

Other than news copy writing is there anything more profound about the annual summer heat?

Two observations:

First is adaptation. Like any extreme, all this sweating is challenging our ability to cope. Not only humans, but we along with all other living things on earth have an impeccable record of adapting. It goes way back for millions of years that living creatures on the planet have figured out ways to adjust and adapt to hot and cold, loss of food, water and shelter. When it comes to climate change, we’ve seen worse. How about the time when our planet had no oxygen or when it was covered with ice? How about that real bad day when the asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and wiped out an Ark load of living species?

Forget the sweat and look on the bright side. I don’t know about you, but I think we and all related life forms should look back where we’ve been and give a collective shout out. We should boast about our ancestors who faced and survived everything that was thrown at them.

When you’re talking about life forms in this universe, survival is one hell of a good metric. Yes today we’re sweating and grumbling about the heat wave, but we’ll be here tomorrow and thousands of years into the future. You want profound? That’s profound!

As for the less profound, for us old guys who barely remember to zip up our fly, some climate recollections come back clear and vivid. It’s really hot today, but we recall a few months ago when the temperature was 110 degrees lower. We were suffering white out days with the snow blowing sideways and the naked branches whistling-screaming in the storm. Snow was knee deep and covered everything, the cars didn’t start and we’d been shoveling nonstop for months. Life was dismal and depressing. Weeks passed with no sun. There were no young ladies on the street wearing cute short skirts or sun suits then. We were all wrapped up in feather filled mummy burqas. By comparison, today’s perspiration and sunglasses condition seems like ecstasy.

The media will give us a tally of the heat related deaths from the current hot spell, as though nobody ever freezes to death in the winter cold. But that’s too profound to think about as I’m relaxing in my torpor watching TV. Weather Guy told me to do it.