The Parable of the Snow Storm

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, with winter cold reaching farther south and summer heat reaching farther north, how long will it be before north and south are indistinguishable?”

Josh spoke thus:

A child and a grandparent were sharing hot chocolate and marshmallows and looking out the window the falling snow.

“This has to be the greatest storm ever,” the child said.

“This is nothing,” the grandparent said, “Back when I was young, there was a storm much worse than this.”

“Was it this cold?” the child asked.

“Was it this cold?” the grandparent said, “It was colder!  It was far, far, far colder!  It was so cold, you could throw boiling water out the window, and it would turn to ice, right there in the air, like a sudden cloud.  Boiling water to ice, faster than you could say ‘Boiling water to ice’!”

“Can we try that now?” the child asked.

“It won’t work,” the grandparent said, “It’s not cold enough.”

“How cold does it have to be?” the child asked.

“Colder than it is now,” the grandparent said.

“Did it snow like this?” the child asked.

“Did it snow like this?” the grandparent said, “It snowed much more than this!  It snowed so much that you couldn’t open the door.  You had to climb out a second floor window to get outside.”

“How did you get back in?” the child asked.

“The same way you got out,” the grandparent said, “You climbed in the second floor window.”

“Can we climb out the second floor window?” the child asked.

“The snow’s not high enough,” the grandparent said.

“How high does the snow have to be?” the child asked.

“Higher than it is now,” the grandparent said.

“You went out the second floor window and built a snowman high enough to climb in the second floor window, when it was cold enough to turn boiling water to ice?” the child asked.

“Not I,” the grandparent said, “I moved to Florida to get away from the cold and the snow.”

“Where we are now?” the child asked.

“Where we are now,” the grandparent said.

“You moved here to get away from the snow,” the child said, “But it’s snowing.”

“How about that?” the grandparent said, “Want to go see if we can make a snowman tall enough to climb in the second floor window?”

“You said there isn’t enough snow,” the child said.

“That’s okay,” the grandparent said, “This house doesn’t have a second floor.  Let’s just build a snowman so high he can climb in the first floor window.  Go and get your coat and hat and boots and gloves.”