it looks like yet another significant snowstorm is heading to my city this  weekend.  The weather folks have been throwing about words like “crippling” and “potentially paralyzing.”  There is even a rumor going around that the goverment is not being honest with us about the expected accumulation as it would cause mass hysteria.  Because the people around here are simply incapable of managing precipitation that falls from the sky. Especially the white stuff.

Case in point: before the First Snowpocalypse back in December, I made the mistake of going to the grocery store the night before the storm hit.  I really wanted to make cookies and needed the supplies, so I braced myself for long lines and barren shelves.  I chuckled to myself as I walked around, noting that in true DC style, my fellow shoppers had just about exhausted the store’s supply of toilet paper and bread.   I picked up my bittersweet chocolate, butter, and eggs and headed to the checkout line.  Of course, I had picked up some completely unnecessary items along but that’s to be expected when surrounded by paranoid people.   

While at the checkout line, I actually couldn’t stop myself from audibly laughing as the lines grew longer and I saw the panic on everyone’s faces.  People were shopping with determination, talking furiously on their cell phones, and frantically consulting lists.   The woman behind me must have noticed my amusement as she asked if this was my first snowstorm in DC.

“Oh, no. I’ve lived here for almost ten years, but I am from New Jersey so I am just not sure what the fuss is all about.  It is just a little snow.”

She narrowed her eyes and reminded me, “They are calling for close to two feet.”

I shrugged, “yes, I heard.”

She then looked at me, right in the eyes, and said “They could run out of food.”

I blinked. Slightly befuddled and amused.

She continued,  “The stores. They could run out of food. And there would be so much snow, that the trucks with more food wouldn’t get through.  We could run out of food.”

I politely, but firmly, informed her that such a scenario was highly unlikely and turned me back on her.   Part of me wanted to burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of her fears, but another part of me wondered where her fears came from.  I mean, look at all that the people in Haiti have endured since the earthquake.  And in this society of mass consumption, all these crazy people overbuy at the mere mention of a few inches of snow that, at the end of the day, will simply cause us some minor inconveniences and maybe a severe case of cabin fever. 

I am too tired to head down that road and will simply settle for laughing at the mass hysteria, even if it results in way more snow than I ever want to see pile up on my super long driveway.

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