Here we go again. Look out the window. It is cold. The sky is gray. Snow might fall from the sky. If you read the news today, you would think the world is ending. It isn't. It is just winter. But in America, we don't do 'just winter' anymore. We do 'historic weather events.' We do 'brutal cold.' We do total panic because we are a nation of children who forgot how to wear a coat.

Millions of Americans are about to freeze. That is the news. But the real story is why this is news at all. Winter comes every single year. It happens at the same time. The calendar doesn't lie. Yet, every time the temperature drops below freezing, we act like we have been invaded by aliens. We are never ready. We never fix the roads in time. We never fix the power lines. We just wait for the ice to hit, and then we scream at the TV.

Let’s talk about the media first. They love this. They absolutely love it. Turn on the TV. You will see a reporter standing in a parking lot. He is wearing a parka that looks like he is climbing Mount Everest. He is pointing at a puddle of slush. He looks very serious. He wants you to be scared. If you are scared, you will keep watching. If you keep watching, you see the commercials for pills and cars. That is the game. They sell you fear so they can sell you junk. They call it a 'Bomb Cyclone' or a 'Polar Vortex.' Scary names for wind and snow. It’s pathetic.

Then there is the power grid. This is where the real joke is. We live in the richest country in the history of the world. We have billionaires building rockets to Mars. We have phones that can recognize our faces. But if it gets a little too cold, the lights go out. The heater stops working. Why? Because the people who run the power companies are greedy. That is the simple truth. They don't want to spend money to make the wires strong. They don't want to insulate the pipes. That costs money. They want to keep that money. So, they let the system rot. When the storm hits and your house goes dark, they will send you an email. They will say they are 'working hard.' They are lying. They are counting their money while you shiver.

Now, look at the politicians. They are the worst part of this mess. The Left and the Right are both useless here. If the power goes out, the Democrats will say it is because of Climate Change. They will say we need to ban cows and drive electric cars. But electric cars don't work well when the grid is dead. The Republicans will scream that green energy failed. They will say we need to burn more coal. They will blame the windmills. Both sides are just using the weather to score points. Neither side actually fixes the wires. They don't care if you are cold. They only care if you vote for them. They will tweet 'Stay Safe!' from their warm offices. Maybe they will even fly to a beach in Mexico while your pipes burst. We have seen it happen before.

And finally, let’s talk about you. The average person. You are part of the problem too. As soon as the weatherman said 'snow,' you ran to the grocery store. You bought milk. You bought bread. Why? What are you making? French toast? Why do people buy perishable food when the power might go out? It makes no sense. But you panic. You drive your car on icy roads even though you don't know how to drive on dry roads. You crash. You clog up the highway. You make everything harder for the plow trucks.

We are a soft society. We demand comfort every second of the day. When nature reminds us that it is actually in charge, we break down. We can't handle a few days of shivering. We can't handle cooking soup on a camping stove. We fall apart. The brutal cold is coming for millions of us. That is true. It is going to suck. But it is going to suck more because we are stupid. We built a society on cheap thrills and ignored the basics. We didn't fix the bridges. We didn't wrap the pipes. We just bought bigger TVs.

So, bundle up. Put on two pairs of socks. Watch the politicians blame each other. Watch the power company make excuses. Watch your neighbor fight someone for the last loaf of bread. This is the American way. We don't solve problems. We just freeze and complain until the sun comes back out. Then we forget all about it until next year. And we will do it all over again.