A Change Of Seasons

Bomb Cyclones, record cold, flooding. You don't need to read the headlines closely to know that global warming is a myth. It's just a change in the seasons. It's not fall or spring or winter and most certainly not summer. It's Award Season. While the rest of the country hunkers down and huddles closer to the big screen TV to watch what the intrepid survivors of this past year have to tell us. 
"So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they’re in academia, engineering, medicine, and science. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military." These were the words of Oprah Winfrey, the woman who would be president if Golden Globes host Seth Meyers had anything to say about it. With Tom Hanks as her Vice President. That was a joke. Oprah and Tom are clever enough to steer clear of the political arena, even if what they do for a living crosses over into that territory on occasion.
The occasion in this case turned out to be the seventy-fifth Golden Globes, the opening of the self-congratulatory festival that begins with the Hollywood Foreign Press handing out its trophies and culminates with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announcing their winners in early March. Over the next few months, a lot of folks, in most cases well-paid folks, will be standing on stages thanking the people that made their dreams a reality. Some of them will take that chance to speak their mind on the topic of their choice, as once and future president Oprah did last Sunday. She reminded us all of the struggle that exists outside the spotlight that finally lands on those who gain stardom. Harvey Weinstein was clever enough to stay away from the festivities, but was remembered and mentioned throughout the ceremony if not by name but by deed.
Meanwhile, the rest of us got out of bed Monday morning and headed to the jobs that don't have award ceremonies attached to them. We took our causes and our concerns with us as we waited a chance to make our voice heard. Don't wait until someone hands you a golden statue. We live in the world about which Oprah spoke so eloquently. We make the change happen. No matter what the season.