Snow

What is it about snow that makes everyone so happy and excited? Watching snow fall or waking up in the morning and seeing everything white and snowy, puts a smile on our face almost every time. Even if the situation ruins our plans, such as going out or traveling, part of us inside still feels warm, in contrast to the frosty cold of the snow. What hidden quality does snow possess that, even momentarily, sweeps our problems and worries away and makes us act like little kids?

For starters, snow is fun! We are enduring the bitchy cold, are forced to wear 5 layers of clothes and pay more for electricity and heating, we might as well get something out of it. It's water, but it doesn't make you wet. And it's solid, so you can grab it, touch it, play with it. It's the most fun, entertaining, clean and useful free toy you will ever find out there. Everybody likes a bit of outdoor fun, so forget about the tv, the xbox, or work (if you are one of those 24/7 workaholics) and let your inner child have fun at its purest form.

Then of course snow is able to cover everything. The old, boring neighbourhood or your ugly, irritating work building, are now hidden under a layer of white snow, masquerading all the problems associated with these places as well.  When it snows, the daily routine shatters. You wake up to a different scenery, an unusual setting (unless of course you are somewhere close to the top north of the globe) and that in turn sets you up in a different mood. It makes everything look new, fresh, pure. Even for a few minutes or hours, you feel like you have escaped your boring life and sad reality, into a dreamworld - a place where your spouse, boss, or irritating neighbour have disappeared and have been replaced by the better versions of them.

But the key word in all these is: pure. We all lead - correction: follow - hectic lives. We are over-consumed by responsibilities, deadlines, desires. Snow slows down time, it makes everything cease to exist except its pure and white form, it opens our eyes and forces us to perceive the world through a new angle, a different point of view. Snow is like the white wizard, fighting the darkness, anger, stress, worries which reside within our souls and minds. And the fact that we know it will not last for very long, makes it even more special, more desired resulting in snow bringing us more happiness.

However, being a destructive force ourselves, we always intervene before nature can take its normal course again. We clear the streets and pathways, to enable people rush to one more miserable and annoying day at work. We throw it at each other, first starting as pure fun, slowly transforming into a competitive fight. We step all over it, ruining its pure white colour, making it dirty, filthy, unwanted. We transform it into shapes and forms, snowmen with exposed genitalia (I felt that the neighbours had to be informed of the gender of my snow-person!). But perhaps it is ok. Snow doesn't mind that we violate it in such a way. Maybe this is its purpose. And once fulfilled, it disappears once again into the earth, where it originated from.