Out-of-Control Snowballs

By John Kubicek

In much of America, at this time of year, the Northern half of this great country sees the wintry weather, and there are always the conditions somewhere during the season where making snowballs, and better yet - the good old snowman - is a common past-time. Well, that was when I was a kid. The perfect time to accomplish such feats is when the temperature is just right, hovering a little below the freezing point. The snow packs very easily. The snow flakes, being big, stick together with little effort. A small snowball can certainly be rolled up into a ball big enough to produce that really weird looking thing out on a front lawn with a carrot for a nose, hunks of coal for the eyes.... Oh wait, that was even before MY time! Okay... almost before my time.

There was a common metaphor I noticed when reading Glenn Beck's book, "The Christmas Sweater" last night. There was the theme of the Christmas like weather, the "White Christmas" as many of us seem to wish for. And yet, in a way of countering that theme, Glenn told about how things seemed to be like an out of control snowball in his young, innocent life. (Don't worry, I won't tell you how the story ends, because I haven't gotten there yet!)

So, this morning, while contemplating the wisdom I've soaked in so far from that book, I realized how much it related to the way things are going in this country. Just as event after event for "Eddie" in "The Christmas Sweater" was increasing in intensity, the way things are going in the U.S. and in the global economy, there seems to be an uncontrollable snowball effect. Yes, the snowball seems to grow exponentially if it is rolling down hill. Who's going to be able to stop it? Funny, but I feel the way Congress is handling the situation, they are sending our kids and grandchildren out to try to lay down in front of the massive, rolling snowball.

So, if there is a way from stopping the growing snowball, rolling down hill, out-of-control, it needs to be us that still have enough strength - we hope - to block it's destructive path. Hopefully, that snowball hasn't gotten beyond our abilities to keep it from crushing our future generations.