Polemicist?

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The actual changing of the seasons pretty much catches me off-guard every time. Now, my surprise is about the arrival of some truly nippy weather. Jack Frost has not yet arrived this close to the Atlantic Ocean, but it inevitably will, and that's a good thing.

I lived in subtropical zones for a goodly number of scattered years. Probably Key West, Florida more than any other specific location. The changes between the seasons that are usually indicated by the native vegetation is noticeable in the southernmost spot in the continental United States of America.

The fact that the vegetation in the subtropical zones changes noticeably in the winter months is easily brought to light by brief visits to the true tropics. The lengths of the days and nights are not so significant all year long, and the temperature variation don't stray as far from the average ambient temperature of the area.

The vegetation stays pretty much the sa-me in the tropics during all the four seasons further north and south. On the equator itself only the changes in altitude cause the temperature variations. In the Amazon basin the variation of temperature is merely two degrees plus or minus ninety degrees Fahrenheit, 365 days and nights a year.

The seasonal changes here on the coastal plains of North Carolina where I was brought to from Mississippi when I was two years old seems just right to me. It's as if I need the changes that come with the four moderate seasons to change me. Otherwise my lethargic, stolid personality might lay down and never get up, and the maggots might come and eat my body while it was still alive.

That's quite possible. During one of my hiatuses from being away for various reasons I came here to my father's house to visit and rest a little. He drove up to his house where I was on his tractor with a trailer, and on that trailer was one of his brood cow's calves who had gotten tangled up in some briars while it was in one of the creeks.

My father said he didn't know how long the calf had been trapped there, but the maggots had started eating it around it's ears and the back of it's head. It was about dead. He asked me to get in the back of his pickup with the calf and hold it's head up while he drove it to the vet's office. It died in my arms before we got there. By the time we buried it the maggots had made significant progress.

Monday is the day I take the methotrexate. I got it out and counted out the ten small pills I take all at the same time once a week. It's sitting on the computer table between the keyboard and monitor. I guess I like to stare at it a while before I put it rudely into my mouth and swallow it.

Methotrexate is both a blessing and a curse. It's the only medicine that truly relieves the aches and pains of my traitorous immune system that's turned against me in the same way it saved me from harm. The first student rheumatologist at the VA Hospital rheumatology clinic in Durham kindly informed me I'd be taking methotrexate for the rest of my natural born days. I've tested his prophecy by a sin of omission. Without divine intervention he's probably right.

It may seem that I'm beginning to realize that the way human's immune system reverses it's role at some point in our ex-is-tense IS divine intervention. A few years ago I didn't know what autoimmune dis-eases were, and now I iz one. Several, as a matter of fact. Pogo was right. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

It seems that I've been quoting that cartoon careactor more often recently. I don't even remember which comic strip Pogo appeared in anymore. I suppose I could Google it up, but the quote suffices. It comes to me in many diverse situations to prove it's universality. Thats how all quotes and metaphors get rated for the worth by me. Both the holy books of the world and Bartlett's Book of Quotes are full of 'em.

The Wilhelm/Baynes translation of the I Ching states without question that a person should learn as many useful quotes from as many different sources as possible. I love the way quotes pop into my mind in a variety of conditions and situations. The quiet appearance of a useful metaphor or quote not only confirms the universality of the saying, but it also assists me in making smart decisions that are useful as fodder for my polemic nature.

"Polemic"? Hey, I just noticed this term. I'm trying to use it to include it at least in my reading vocabulary, if not when I'm writing. I only looked it up a couple of days ago. From the definitions offered in Wikipedia I might easily claim to fit the description without too much argument:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polemic

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