I grew up in Ohio. In the land of no air conditioning. Our house had none, nor did the school, or church, or anyone else’s house. We had fans and open windows. Of course it wasn’t as hot as it is here but it got pretty uncomfortable sometimes. Since there was nothing to compare it to, we just carried on. To tell the truth, most of the time it was ok. I am particularly grateful for air conditioning today here in Plano. I am not sure it be ok to do without.
On the hottest of days I remind myself not of the summers but of the winters. I know we have way too much heat, and we need to move toward solutions to climate change. However, just getting from day to day I remember the cold and know that Ohio cold does not happen here, just as Texas heat does not happen there. I get through the everyday tasks in the heat remembering that I am not scraping my windshield every time I get in the car. I remember the last winter we lived in Ohio— schools were closed for five consecutive weeks. The high temperature did not reach 0 degrees for 30 straight days. You could not bring your car to a complete stop at red lights or stop signs because the brakes would freeze together. There would sit your car until a warmer day. The river froze over so the water underneath pushed the ice so high they had to close all the bridges. Lake Erie froze, too. Even the ice cutting ships were frozen still in the channels. We had so much snow that the pile of snow at the end of our street was still a small mound on the 10th of June when we pulled away from our home behind the moving van.
Most of life is like this. We operate and form our opinions based on our own experience. It is hard to see things from another perspective. We tend to cope with what we can, and to complain when we cannot. It is hard to imagine someone else’s suffering being worse than ours when we have not experienced it. Feeling pain not our own is hard to do. We need to try. It is what makes us more fully human.
So, when it is 105 I recall those really cold days, and it helps a bit. I pray that you are finding ways to keep cool this week and ways to help those who cannot.