MULTICULTURALISM TRUMPS SNOBBERY

There are two versions. The one I know is “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”

Recently I found it with if-then added, “If March comes in like a lion, then it will go out like a lamb.” This leaves us wondering about the reverse, converse, etc., so I prefer the former, for its certainty.

Yesterday, the First of March, was mild but a storm was gathering. It didn’t hit till almost midnight, then hard and brief, thumping the roof like boulders, as if the Maid of the Mist spent a couple of minutes actually under the fall.

This morning I thought to ask a co-worker who was raised in the Philippines if she "heard the lion roar last night?" I found myself rehearsing how I'd explain it to her. About how most “old sayings” in our dominant culture come from England, Northern Europe, and New England, and that the transition from winter to spring in those climes usually happens in the month of March.

Then I figured, what’s the use! So I said, “Did you hear that rain last night!”

Later, I was talking to a highly educated East Indian woman about my possible career moves. She started a comment, “You don’t want to burn your …”

I expected to hear “bridges behind you.” But, she said “boats behind you.” For a millisecond I was on the beach where Scamander surrenders to the wine-dark sea, ready to sack the citadel of Troy and punish the miscreant son of Priam, lover of horses.

What was so great about Paris (Alexandros) that Helen, the most beautiful woman on earth, would run away with him? For an amusing profile of this dude, click here

http://www.geocities.com/neohomeridae/justncase/hero_paris.html.


So, I'm over that hump, how will I handle the ides?