Today I found myself going from point A to point B and I was struck by the first deeply cold day of the year for me so far. It was perfectly sunny and all, but the wind was relentless. Somedays it almost blows right through you taking with it all your cheer and inner peace. I am the kind of person who hates talking about weather. I absolutely can’t stand it. Even summer weather. But that’s not to say I don’t respect it. For Canadians, weather is more than just a matter of fact. Hugh Kenner wrote in his 1954 book Our Sense of Identity, “The surest way to the hearts of a Canadian audience is to inform them that their souls are to be identified with rock, rapids, wilderness, and virgin (but exploitable) forest. This pathological craving for identification with the subhuman may be illustrated in every department of Canadian culture.” Margaret Atwood’s theory is that the central preoccupation in Canadian poetry and fiction is the concept of survival. Not just survival from the elements, but also cultural and sociological survival. She also wrote, “The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.”
Today, my survival was made easier on my way from point A to point B because I was listening to Active Child’s incredible song “Wilderness” and I was struck by how well the lyrics were lining up with my struggle against Mr. Wind:
.
