Day 253

I suppose when a person is raised in an area with harshly defined seasons, we come to expect certain things from the sun. Whenever I think of a sunny summers day, my minds eye conjours the images from the original Fantasia. The segment of music was Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony and the screen is filled with images of an idyllic mythological land, full of flying horses and minor pagan deities. I have always pictured the sun as the benevolent giver of life, its rays bringing life to the planet. It has caused an unknown multitude of the nations' workers to call in sick, or call in well, and spend the day out of doors, either fishing or camping or boating or, best of all, doing nothing, hence the invention of the hammock. Then I got here. I think the sun has a cruel sense of humor on the other side of the planet. There is nothing life giving about this big old ball of burning gas. People here do not call in sick on a sunny day. In fact, they go to work, where there is better air conditioning. If you truly think there is nowhere lower to go in your life, come here and stand in the sun on a day then it gets to 115 degrees. Oh, trust me, you can't do it for more than a few minutes. All of you other problems in life will pale by comparison. How fast can you move from one building to the next without breaking any speeding laws? How quickly and forcefully can you contract certain bodily muscles in an effort to speed your time in the port-a-john? How important, really, is it to go and visit your soldier in the next building? Wouldn't it just be easier to call, or send an email? I say we borrow a page from the Scottish Army and start wearing kilts. Hell, at this point, I'd have no problem calling them man-dresses. At least there'd be air moving in my nether regions. But what air it is. You're hot; you're sweaty; and then the wind kicks up, moving around all of the sand and dust, which now sticks to your sticky body. Maybe a kilt wouldn't be such a good idea after all. There are some places that much dust shouldn't gather.