Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Pittsburgh weather in perspective

Just a note about Pittsburgh weather - One criticism of Pittsburgh that I will admit to... is that we are spoiled. You thought I was going to say the weather, didn't you? The weather can be miserable here, but it can be pretty miserable almost anywhere, depending upon your location, preferences, and attitude. We just got over 20 inches of snow and we are getting ready for about another 10. OK - 30 inches of snow in a week kind of sucks, but let's get real. This is the first time this kind of snow has come down since when... 1993? We have it really good here. Bad weather to us means a few closed schools and businesses, a missed trip to the bar, maybe a missed Superbowl party. Of course, we have had some injuries, and even a few fatalities related to the weather, and that is HORRIBLE. I am not down-playing the plight of those who are really struggling because of all of this. I am merely pointing out that our struggles here are minor when you look at it on a global level, and that we should be very grateful. When we have REALLY BAD weather, it's a major inconvenience and (God forbid) there may be a few injuries or even deaths. When other places have REALLY BAD weather, hundreds of thousands of people die and millions are left homeless. The good thing about all of this snow is that it tends to bring out the best in many locals. I don't know how many people I have seen digging each other out of glaciers around here. If nothing else, we know that this will all seem like a half-forgotten dream when it's July and we're all sitting in front of a fan. We are in one of the safest areas of the world, with very little to no chance of a major earthquake, hurricane, tornado, forest fire, or catastrophic flood. If this is the worst that we are going to have to deal with - a crap-load of snow every seventeen years or so, I'm staying right here at home in the Greatest City in the World.

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