At the end of October,
the question was posted to this thread
if a weather event had traumatized me in my life.

I wasn't prepared for the question, so I blew it off.

In fact, the tradition of talking about the weather
in my experience is a sort of double-speak,
and I guess I am as guilty of this as anybody.

A retired Dominican friar, whom I used to encounter in the elevator
(he and I lived on different floors of the same apartment complex),
used to greet everyone he met, including me,
with a current update on weather conditions.
This social response had become a habit, second nature, with him.

Which is a commentary of sorts about communal living.
In St. Dominic's Order of Preachers, much is made about community life.
It is only a retired friar, perhaps in delicate health,
who is excused from living in a priory or some such
with any number of fellow friars.

I never suspected that Father such-and-so had been traumatized
by a weather event in his life.
I just thought he was stating his neutrality,
like Switzerland,
in the world of pro- and con- social interactions.

In like manner,
my posts to this thread have kept it visible
whilst other BS threads catch fire, smoke the place up, and crash.

This is not to speak of
the place that vigilance has in my life.
Is all vigilance based on fear? So be it.