Opposites

We live in a world of opposites. We all experience this take on life now and then. Maybe even daily especially if you're use to watching or listening to politics. You've got the Right and the Left, the Conservatives and the Liberals, the Republicans and the Democrats all saying pretty much the opposite of each other with each group feeling, knowing, that they are right and aggravated with the opposite viewpoint because they are soooo wrong.

How does this happen? Brainwashing by ones parents? Brainwashing by the dominant environment you live in? A gene that makes us believe one thing or the other? I don't know. What I do know is that for me it's easier just to accept this difference and then focus on what we have in common. Every Democrat and Republican loves their sons and daughters and they want the best for them.

Having moved to San Diego 4 and 1/2 years ago has been a living reminder of the physical and social differences between here and New England. For example I'll be putting on SPF 45 sunscreen later today before I go to work outside in the my short sleeve shirt while all my family and friends back east dress in multiple layers of thermal and down clothing protecting themselves from frostbite. It's 66 degrees and sunny in San Diego while back in Bethel, Maine it's 15 degrees and snowing hard. Just to rub it in tomorrow will be 75 degrees. This time of year these differences are really pronounced. I remember recently listening to the local San Diego news anchor complain because she was freezing at 50 degrees. That was the same day I spoke to my mom who lives in Lubec, Maine and was appreciating the day because it had warmed up to 38 degrees. They were both serious.

Here in San Diego people make a big deal about drizzle and rain. I can see why. It's because it never ever seems to rain here. Well it does rain, sort of, sometimes. San Diego only gets a total annual average of 10 inches of rain. Some years they don't receive that much. Here they measure rain in hundredths of an inch. The other night the weather person said it rained .09 hundredths of an inch. That means it would have to rain more then 10 times that amount just to reach an inch of rain. We call that drizzle back in New England and it's pretty much a non event.

But odd things happen in San Diego when it rains. You can bet on multiple car accidents and fender benders. I've heard reports of up to an accident every 2 minutes during some of these times. San Diegans definitively don't know how to drive in rain. Coming down a ramp towards a stop light at 60 miles per hour in the rain will be different. "Hey dude, whys my car not stopping? Oh crap...I hit the car in front of me. Stupid rain." Then other things can happen, like houses collapse into the ground or go sliding down a hill in a mudslide.

So what's the point of my story? Well I think in order to really appreciate a sunny day you need more rainy days. On the other hand when I have so many sunny days here I really appreciate a rainy day as long as I don't have any one driving too closely behind me.