The Answer to Everything

I took John to a medical appointment in Madison. Rising at 3:45 a.m., I wasn't the most pleasant fellow in the world by the time John finished filling out his paperwork after only an hour. Actually it was a little more than an hour. A nurse came out and helped him after he had worked on it for sixty minutes. During that time, I had plenty of opportunity to observe the waiting room. An old familiar pet peeve met me and everyone else there. I promise, I am not exaggerating one iota on what I am about to say.

I first noticed this problem in 1999 when I sat for entrance exams at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. I wore a full business suit and tie that day and was so cold that I not only shivered but was in pain. That has been my constant sorrow ever since. 

I came prepared. Yes, I had on shorts, but up top I wore a T-shirt under my long-sleeve button down and a cap covered my head. I noticed a lot of people there were more prepared than I. No joke, I counted

   six sweaters
   two winter coats
   one jacket, and 
   one patient wrapped up in a blanket.

Not only that, but the office had two waiting rooms, one announced every few minutes to whosoever would listen, was "warmer than the other." Believe me, it was not warm, just not as cold.

Please tell me why this is necessary. Why do I encounter this everywhere I go? It has to cost a lot of money, and that cost has to be passed on to the costumer. Below is a list of public places I have visited and whether or not these places were cold:

restaurants, cold
City Hall, cold
churches, cold
Civic Center, cold
Walmart, cold
movie theater, cold
cafe, cold
school, cold
jail, I thankfully don't know
doctor's office, cold
dental office, cold
hospital, cold
post office, cold
CPA firm, cold
lawyer's office, cold
courtroom, cold
veterinarian's, cold
car dealership, cold
Sears, cold
JC Penney, cold
Big Lots, cold
Sherwin-Williams, cold
grocery store, cold
mechanic shop, hot
CVS, cold
Walgreen, cold
GNC, cold
seminary chapel, cold
motel lobby, cold

Tell me again, why this is so. Our esteemed national leaders have advanced all sorts of proposals to fix all our problems. There is the Green New Deal, emissions control, and the Paris Agreement of 2015. My answer is simple, effective, and costless: turn the thermostat up a few degrees. That is all.

Yes, it really is that simple. This will solve global warming, lower household expenses, and cure the high cost of everything. Not only that, but you will not have to watch people shuffle into a medical facility in Mississippi in June dressed like they live in Alaska during the most brutal winter on record. The absurdity of this was painful that day. Where is the morality here? 

Stop the torture. Save the planet. Be nice to old people, young people, and middle-age people. Turn the thermostat up.