Hot or Cold?

my first classroom
before demolition

            So which would you prefer, the record heat waves we have been experiencing or the frozen record cold days of the winter?  Both can produce serious challenges and health risks.

           That can be a tough question and it depends upon other issues.  Do you have electricity to run your furnace or ac?  Are both pieces of equipment working?  Must you travel or even be outside?  Must the sidewalks be shoveled or the grass mowed?

          Now I imagine everyone has a preference, but assuming my furnace and ac are operating and my pipes aren't freezing, I prefer the cold.  When it is cold you can put on heavier clothing ot blankets.  But when it is hot you must take things off ... if that is even possible.  And I do hate the humidity which can accommodate the high temperatures and be horrendous in Lancaster County.

          I am one of those who grew up without air conditioning.  My parents never had central air.  Later in life - after we three kids left - they did purchase two window units, one for their bedroom and one for the dining room/kitchen.  I'm not sure when they finally bought their first car with ac but I know it wasn't until later in life.  Central air and air conditioning in your car were seen as luxuries to them.  They were only for the "rich".  We "poor" folks just learned to adjust to the heat the best that we could.  And adjust we did, or at least we tried to.

          I can still remember those horrendously hot and humid nights when I was growing up.  Often I would take my pillow and a cover down from my second floor bedroom to the living room.  I would open our side door to the porch and lay in front of the door just trying to catch a small breeze.  Sometimes I did, but it was always small and never too refreshing.

          When we rode in our car we always rode with all the windows open and you tried to get a seat next to the window and enjoy the resulting breeze.  A neighbor boy owned a convertible and if you were fortunate you could go for a ride with him once un awhile.  We endured sitting in school and in church and living in tents at camp meeting in the hot summer days.  And we didn't complain - we had no other alternative.

          When I was in college I attended church in Sunbury, without ac of course.  But outside the right side of the building were row homes whose porches adjoined the side of the church.  On hot summer days the church windows were opened exposing the porches.  The residents had no privacy from the church services on Sundays and the congregation had to endure the actions of the neighbors.

          Incidentally, early in June we were married in that sanctuary.  I wore my black wool suit, the only suit that I owned.   The heat, humidity, my suit and my nervousness were a great combination that day.

          In our early days of marriage our only relief from the heat came from a large window fan which we purchased.  It would blow the hot air out and pull the cooler air in from other open windows.  It was the best that we could afford in those days.  Years later we were able to add some window air conditioners that served us until 1991 when we finally could afford central air.  That was 29 years after we were married.

          In 1967 we spent eight weeks in Tallahassee, Florida, while I was attending Florida State University.  It was really hot there but not nearly as humid as we were used to back home.  And at that time, every place there, including our apartment had central air.  That was a summer that we enjoyed.

          But probably my worst experience with the heat came during my teaching career at Penn Manor.   For almost two thirds of my 39 years my office and classrooms were on the third floor, east side of a brick building with no ac or even cross ventilation.  The sun would hit those windows and it was often over 90 degrees when the day began.  And while we had a fan for each room it did little to make it comfortable all day.  After an hour of teaching I was often "soaked" with perspiration and often had to change my shirt.  I pitied my students who had to suffer through those conditions as well as through my teaching.  For years I begged the school to at least install some exhaust fans to move the air.  But as they sat in their air conditioned offices the administrators could never decide to support my requests.  So we suffered.

          Thankfully, during the last third of my years of teaching I took on K-12 duties and then was first given an office in the ninth grade building and then in an elementary school.  Both had central ac.  Then, in 1997, a major renovation also gave me a classroom with ac.  That helped make teaching fun once again.

          As I've watched the news of the recent heat waves I can't help but wonder how folks survive, especially vulnerable seniors.  Many of the folks in the northwest region didn't even have ac, something you just assume everyone has today.

          I also often think of my parents and how they survived all their lives without central air.  But they were hardy folks who lived through many difficult times.  And they trusted the Lord and He provided - ALL their needs.  May I  exercise the same faith.

          Keep cool - the summer isn't over yet!