The Southern Yankee – Sue Ellen Ross

This is my second summer in Louisiana and I must say, I am getting used to the humidity. Yes, it is what everyone told me to expect. Just like going into a steam room whenever the temperature is past 80 degrees. And that is much of the time during the summers here.

I’ve found that air conditioning is a necessity, not a luxury. There is no way a resident or employee could function today in LaPlace without that electrically-charged cool air.

But I know that wasn’t always the case.

I am sure there were families, like mine, that didn’t always have central air-conditioning. In fact, we had no air-conditioning at all until the year I left home to get married.

Although the temperatures up north don’t get brutally hot until July or August, you still have days of very warm weather in May and June.

Back in the day in Indiana, school-time wasn’t over for summer vacation until the second week of June. Which meant that coming in from recess on hot days was a lesson in patience, not to mention an education about biology and science.

The teacher always told us that if we just sit still, our bodies would cool themselves off. When you tell that to a 10-year-old who is sweating profusely over their desk, it doesn’t hold water.

As it turned out, the teacher was right.

After the first time I listened to her, I never complained about heat again during the remainder or my school years. I knew the secret. By the way, my high school also did not have any type of cooling system.

I never questioned the how or why of the situation. All I know is that we had no choice, there were no paper towels and no excuses allowed to go to the restroom to ‘wash off’, so we had to just stay still and think about something else.

The teacher went on to say it was a choice we had regarding what we do when our body overheats. Again, my classmates and I didn’t know what she was talking about.

But now I do know.

The teacher meant that there are many ways to assess the situation when the perspiration is dripping from our face. We can complain that the school system is too cheap to install air-conditioning, worry about our appearance (mostly the girls of course,) or we can move on to other things. And our body would naturally cool down with no help from us.

Words of wisdom from the past can come to us at many times in our life. I’m glad I remembered that teacher and her wisdom. Especially since I am now living in one of the hottest areas in the United States.

Sue Ellen Ross is a staff writer for the L’Observateur and can reached at lobnews@bellsouth.net