Summer Season

After the cold of the Winter Season, Spring begins the surging of the human spirit to find something new from out of itself. This is vividly portrayed in Nature. It culminates in Summer, the season that reflects the bounty of Nature and the fullness of life. It is no wonder that most outdoor activities take place during this season. Most tours and adventurous activities are usually planned for the Summer Season.

Biblically, Whitsunday is the festival that commemorates Pentecost. This has since been celebrated by the Churches every Summer for the historical descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on that eventful day. So, we see nobody is left out of the enjoyment of the season. Even people who are frail get the opportunity to relax in gardens to enjoy the beauty of Nature. It is splendid!

What does the Summer Season call for? Obviously, we can cite three main points; travel, outdoor games and leisure activities.

It is true that we human beings are naturally seekers of wonders. Therefore, we will travel far and wide to see wonders of antiquity, venerable forms of hoary mountains, historic waterfalls, museums, and art galleries. We travel because it is a human urge for us to know about the world and do something new for the benefit of the human race.

What do these travels bring about? They bring about human integration, consciously or otherwise. People meet other people and share ideas and experiences that go a long way to help them. There is no other season where voluntary and self-help projects take place visibly on a large and global scale than the Summer Season. It is a season where man’s creative imagination reaches higher proportions.

The greatest of all social events of the Summer Season is sports. Games such as the well organised FIFA world cup football tournament, and athletics like the Olympics, are famous on the world stage. These games bring many people of different nations together to compete, not only to win but, above all to take part in a cordial atmosphere where friendship reigns supreme. The experiences of these games bring the best in human nature.

The gathering of different people from different lands and cultures helps to bring about universal brotherhood and friendship. The main idea is not who wins or loses, but the harmonious interaction of one nation with another creates the impression that there can be peace among nations. The world watched in joy when the United States football team played Iran in the 1998 world cup finals staged in France. What politicians have yet to achieve was made possible in some way through sports. In the far future, emphasis on these games would not be placed on competition, but cooperation and friendship.

Leisure activities also reach a high peak in the Summer. Workers usually take their annual holidays during this season. It is during the month of August, the height of the Summer Season, that parents take their children on holiday. Travel agencies and airways corporations get busy as well. People travel to get recuperation after a long time in the office, and other jobs. We travel far and wide to get a change of scene, thereby maintaining the rhythm of the body system. This is very important because too much stress on the body causes disharmony and consequently brings about 'dis-ease'. Religious organisations, as well as Esoteric Associations, also organise conferences and pilgrimages to explore more about God and Nature. These meetings again bring about international friendship.

During the Summer, our beaches do get busy. In this way too people meet other people of different nations, which leads to the establishment of friendships. It is interesting to note that people learn other languages in addition to their own native tongues because of holidays. For example, most English-speaking people learn some basics of Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish or German just because those parts of the world are their holiday destinations. Likewise, most people from other nations learn English in order to take holidays in the United Kingdom. Many even come on holidays in the Summer purposely to study the English language, which is one of the most widely used languages throughout the world.

Consciously or unconsciously, people and nations are being integrated through international marriages and languages for the good of all. All these are helping to bring about international cooperation, brotherhood and friendship. With time, there would be no more wars because people might have related to each other in such a way that to take arms against one nation would be like killing one’s own people. Hence wars would cease. We are all longing to see the realisation of such a plan in the future.

Summer is a great season. It is a time when Nature itself becomes vibrant. The Sun, symbol of life directs its rays upon earth. Nature’s creative activities reach a crescendo during the Summer Season, and June 21st sees the peak of Nature’s work. This is what the esoteric societies observe as the Summer Solstice. Many people also celebrate this day at sacred places around the world. The famous one being Stonehenge in England. It is the day when the Sun reaches its highest declination in the North before it begins to descend.

Truly, the Summer Season has been characterised by these words; adaptability, versatility, restlessness, changeability and a love for the new and the unexpected. We speak of June as the month when people mostly enter in wedlock. What better friendship is the union of two opposites?

May we all enjoy Summer’s bounteous activities wherever we may choose to go, so that we can meet people and establish friendships, thereby helping to make the world a better place for humanity, where love, sympathy and compassion rule.

By Abraham Obeng