LET US REASON IN WEATHER

I love the way different kinds of weather wreck havoc on people’s sense of control. When it is freezing out and you are chilled to the bone, people often try to look normal. That is their way of pretending they are in control and not going to let being frozen keep them from whatever.

And when it is scorching outside, one sits under the air conditioner absorbing gallons of something cool and hoping to hide the sweat. Again the simple flair of pride in an attempt to pretend we are impenetrable to the climate that abounds.

Even when a person acknowledges the weather they really do admit to the weather. By that I mean while we might complain, we know we can’t control it so we love to use it as a means of justifying some flaw. Thus we have control by not basically having to face that WE cause whatever problem we have. So again it is a control thing.

Okay am I making too much of human ego here? I don’t think so. I see it every day and in all kinds of weather. And I truly savor watching how people lose it when the weather eats away at their sense of control, but their pride won’t let them admit it. So they become like a simmering pot waiting to boil over.

Which is exactly what happens sooner or later. Only often the thing that causes some outburst has nothing to do with the weather. That would be too easy to admit. Instead the person will explode over something trivial and that makes it more obvious.

Now what I do as a politician is use this little insight as a valuable tool for judging people’s possible reaction. I watch they eyes. Their lips can lie, but their eyes will always reveal the truth. They will shine with fatigue, anxiety, fear and a whole lot of other feelings. You just have to bear in mind the weather.

Cold makes people listless and slothful in many cases. So they get pissed over the lack of energy and freedom of movement. Heat exhausts with fatigue and makes life generally uncomfortable. So that too makes people irritable.

When it is cold, thus you have to get them to talk about the summer, their hobbies and dreams. It helps to divert attention from what is really bothering them.

And if they are too hot, well you talk about things like holidays, vacations and the pleasant elements that remind of relief. That too will help to make them get their mind off the real problem.

Once I have adequately read their thermometer and adjusted the controls normally the person will eventually regain some level of sanity. And if I’m lucky it will last till they leave my office. They might go insane again with somebody else, but at least I saved my butt! That is what matters to me.

Oh yes and the chance when I have made them relax to perhaps suck up to them during some weakness of a good mood. It is amazing how that causes them to so easily agree to what they would otherwise say no about. Just another little medicinal observation from the desk of this electoral physician.