A Letter From The Editor

Talking about my experiences as an Editor-in-Chief yesterday, I started thinking about the work I did at my college magazine, Transition.  It almost never got made.  For whatever reasons, I was frustrated enough at the department that I was willing to let it die.  But thanks to my Co Editor-in-Chief, we decided to go forward with it.  There were a number of hurdles to deal with, as would be expected.

One of the hurdles in production was the letter from the editor.  This was one of the traditions of the magazine.  It was a message, written by the Editor-in-Chief, put on the very first page of the magazine.  I was never impressed with letters of the past (either that or I didn't read them), and I really didn't want another boring speech that sounded like all the others.  So, my plan was to not have one

As I worked on the magazine, I felt bad about not putting in the effort to do a letter.  I started to want to, but when I sat down to write, I had absolutely nothing.  And if I didn't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all (oh my god, my parents were right!!!).

One day, I was taking a walk, thinking the random thoughts I was, and the idea had come to me.  I knew exactly what I wanted to write.  I got to a computer and I wrote a letter of the editor I was proud of.  In fact, I was so proud of what I had written that I care more about it than I did about all the other pieces I had published in the magazine.

And to share with you, here is the letter in question:



A Letter From the Editor

In terms of weather, we get about four perfect days a year. In the late fall and early spring, there are two days where it is perfectly winter. It’s cold, but not excessively so. When you put on your favorite coat, you warm right up.

In early spring and late summer, we get two more perfect days. It’s warm outside. You take a moment to stand still and let the sun hit your face. The sun’s rays reenergize you. Just as you feel like the sun is getting too hot, a light breeze picks up and cools you down.

The rest of the time is imperfect, if not downright miserable. In the worst of summer, it’s too hot outside, even when you’re wearing nothing more than a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. In the dead of winter, even your thickest coat can’t protect you from the dry, piercing wind.

During my spring break, which didn’t even happen in spring, I found myself cursing the outdoors. Why wasn’t the weather just right already? How long until one of those perfect days gets here? I’m so sick of the transition between the seasons.


And that’s when it hit me. Transition. The vast majority of our time is spent in transition. We’re going from one place to another, one job to another, one spouse to another, one perfect day to another. We usually think of time in transition as time spent waiting to live. When that time is only 10 minutes a day to drive from home to work, it’s no big deal. But when you consider that we only get 4 days a year where we aren’t in transition, that can be a problem.

We are always moving; that’s part of being alive. Even when we finally reach our destination, we start moving to another place.

In the end, we will be remembered for what we did while we were waiting for the next perfect day. What will you do to pass the time?


Sincerely,

Kevin Bahler