Swinging in the rain

It has long been established that, even as modern-day humans, the weather affects our moods, sometimes to greater and sometimes to lesser extent, but its influence is undeniable. In fact, there is little discussion that we are not all that removed from our other mammal cousins, and most of us would prefer without hesitation a balmy spring day over a chilly winter one (save for the unlucky ones for whom pollen allergies turn the warm part of the year into an endless torture of scratchy throat, watery eyes and runny nose). But this undisputed piece of knowledge does not provide any practical solution or makes it any more palatable when, after four days of uninterrupted humid glum my mood turns sour and all I can think of is crawling under a blanket with a good book. Or any book, actually.

Perhaps it is just nature staking a claim over this piece of land in the shape of me, asking for its pound of flesh to allow me to keep living as I had left nature behind. The Western tradition has more than twenty five centuries of experience in trying to detach humans from the rest of nature under the argument that the behavior of animals is disorderly and unpredictable, and therefore unworthy of the enlightened human species, who has sworn to abide by logic, justice and other high principles which, incidentally, do not happen in nature and are instead purely human inventions.

Photo: Daniel Kulinski

Notably, the attempts to free ourselves from the grasp of nature have come from two separate and complementary directions: on the one hand, we have tried to attain as much independence of our environment as technically feasible, especially to periodic variations; on the other, we have made a strong push to educate ourselves to have predictable and appropriate reactions to the situations we face, with a strong emphasis on trying to detach them from both the environment and and the moment in time. Among the solutions found to address the first questions, there are a variety of technologies, from the construction of houses and clothes, which reduce our dependence on the outside temperature, to the use of light sources to overcome (to the extent possible) the cycle of day and night. The second category is covered by the iron fisted rules of society norm, the instill on us from very early on which kind of responses are acceptable in each situation and to which degree of intensity. However, these solutions have had varying degrees of success, and even the best one do not accomplish their goal to a 100%.

Let us consider the example of lighting: even at the equator, the length of the night clearly exceeds the sleeping needs of most humans, so the use of artificial light sources allows us to dispel the darkness and make good use of those additional hours. And the further we go north or south, the longer the winter nights become to the point that, around this time of the year, there are substantial parts of the world which enjoy less than 8 hours of daylight. Thinking back to the middle ages, where flame-based light sources were unreliable (could be blown out), dangerous (it was very easy to start a fire), bad for your health (soot and carbon monoxide are frequent byproducts of the slow burning) and sometimes expensive (the "cleaner" the flame, the more expensive was the fuel), both their use and their intensity was limited to just the most essential. Instead, life was organized in such a way that activities that required good illumination were scheduled during the day or in summer, while the evening hours were left for those where good vision was not us important.

However, as the industrial revolution rolled in and time started to become money, the powers that be wanted to keep the factories working at full capacity all the time. If the process required good lighting, lamps were provided for use in the dark days, if it required a certain temperature, heating and cooling systems were installed to ensure that production could go on. But the changes went well beyond that: clocks were prominently displayed and equipped with bells so that workers where constantly aware of the time (and therefore made it to they job on time). Street lighting and public transportation made it possible for workers to go to work (relatively) safely and affordably even in the winter months where it would still be dark outside by the time they started their shift.

Forward to year 2020, the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed yet another paradigm shifting technology. Even if part of the workforce was already free to choose where they did their work because the computers enabled it, this practice was not really widespread and in fact many bosses had a strong preference for seeing their workers coming to work in the morning rather than relying on their statement that they will be sitting in front of the computer the eight hours of their contract.

But in spite of all this progress, we have not been able to leave behind our animal nature. We still have to eat, sleep and breath, and even in different quantities every day. We sometimes prefer variety in our options, while other times go to our reliable favorites. And, even after years and years of social education, there are times where our reaction are inexplicable but undeniable: I know perfectly well that I cannot spend a week day under the blankets, but this knowledge does not make me wish it any less. I could probably push myself to go out and, following the example of Gene Kelly in his 1952 movie, sing in the rain, but I do not how long it would take for my introvert nature to overcome my determination and pull me back inside. And that is how my mood is today, swinging in the rain. Have a good evening.