Whenever I write on the internet about the seasons (which I do much too often) it always, belatedly, occurs to me how parochial my viewpoint is. As a lifelong resident of the northeastern United States, I've only experienced one set of seasons and the autumns and springs I describe, which to me seem so natural, are nothing like those experienced by people who live elsewhere in the world.

It's a reminder of how easy it is to forget that what we happen to be accustomed to is not necessarily normal or the way things should be or have to be. Yet we all tend to fall into that way of thinking occassionally, about certain subjects.

There was a time when you couldn't discuss the weather with people who lived on the other side of the country or the ocean. The people you discussed the weather with were used to the same weather you were. It must have made things easier.

Too many people today spend too much energy concerning themselves with subjects they don't actually encounter in their own lives, surprised and offended that the moral or intellectual climate is different, someplace in the world, from what they're used to, forgetting that what they're used to, like the falls and springs they experience, is not the measure of what is normal or right or good.

Maybe someday more people will just accept that, like the weather, things aren't the same everywhere. Then again, maybe someday we'll see six foot snowdrifts in Georgia.