My flight was canceled – again – and the recommended next booking is Tuesday. This gave me plenty of time to return a movie I had rented, Little Man Tate, as suggested by my boss. Given the blizzard, there were few people outside, and even fewer cars, and I had a chance to enjoy the serene beauty of a nigh silent, white world.

And it reminded me of how far we have come as a people. Mother nature throws one of her challenges at us, again – a blizzard which drowns animals in over a foot of ice and snow, and continues to rain down chilled feelings for an illusory eternity. A display which tests the survival of Earth’s creatures, halts the movement of water, and obstructs the path of all that flee, and, yet, we see it as only an annoyance – an inconvenience. Man does not fret or flee, he does not stockpile food for his survival, he does not shell himself for months until the cold departs. Man simply turns a dial which uses the very forces of nature against herself and warms the shelter he has built from the materials she has also provided. Man simply adorns an extra layer of animal skin or carefully woven plant fiber and walks his usual, daily path. Man simply takes his needs from a giant warehouse of food without worry, stress, or doubt. Survival is not in question.

Such capacity is a testament to our species – to what it means to truly be a man. A true man looks a raging maelstrom in the eye and smiles when others organisms would flee in terror. He smiles because he knows that the maelstrom rages because it is afraid. It knows that its might will be free only until man chooses to bend its will towards his end. There is no question, only inevitability. A true man bends the will of the world around him as he walks the Earth. His head will never permanently bow to any element this universe commands.

A piece of my daily inspirations comes from this immense potential and responsibility. I am a man. I am a representative of this species. I will not dishonor such a proud line of creatures through a life of lazy pleasures; I will exist such that any who look upon me will be able to see the might of the human race within my soul, and know that man will conquer any challenge and face any foe.