I went to bed on a summer evening and woke up to an autumn day. That’s a sentence that makes this sound less like a column and more like the start to a summer paperback. As I walked through heavy dew to check on the cattle this week, I thought about the change of season and the sentence rang so true. This is the time of year I truly enjoy as we usually get a little 3-day preview of September in mid-August. It is a signal of the relief to come and a cue for nostalgia as this is such a time of transition.
I think farmers like this time of year. Farmers are under incredible stress during the planting season and all they do is spend money without any guarantee of income. We have already seen the start of harvest in the area. This is a time of hard work and stress but there is also the reward of seeing a full combine hopper or that secure feeling you get when you whack the side of a bin full of grain and it has that muffled, solid sound instead of the hollow sound when it is empty.
So many transitions are sentimental, summer to fall is full of transitions. I think the one that comes to mind is when students go back to school. I did not like this time of year when I was young and found it stressful although most of the stress went away when I got back to school and saw my friends and some favorite teachers. Summer meant a lot of work on the farm, but it was also a time of freedom. I worked a lot by myself and as long as I got something done, I received continued freedom. That is so rewarding for a young person. Back to school meant schedules, report cards, tests and authority figures in every room. I wouldn’t change a thing about these essential factors however they do reduce your freedom.
The greatest transition is from life to death. It seems to me that there are so many young people who have recently passed on. I have read a few articles on life expectancy and that number has gone down since 2020. Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health says the decline in life expectancy has occurred because of higher mortality in those people ages 25-64. Many of these deaths are due to drug overdoses, suicides, alcohol related causes. He says, “these are sometimes called deaths of despair, but also cardiometabolic diseases like diabetes and other conditions caused by obesity.” I would dig down even deeper to say the seed of these diseases is a lack of hope.
Some time ago, I knew of a friend that was going through some tough times. I told this friend that they should have hope and that I had never been in a situation where hope wasn’t helpful. It seems to me that our culture today makes fun of those who have hope or calls them naive. Hope is a strength; it is a resistance to the darkness of this world and inspiration to others. As we transition from one season to the next or from a time of happiness to a time of sadness, we should never lose hope. Hope should be a part of each sunrise and be safely stored for daily use at sunset. It is a powerful support in times of transition and a choice to survive when times are tough.
