It isn't clear to me that hardship makes you stronger. It is clear however that if you are weak, hardship kills you. Ice storms in Georgia sculpt our landscape. Weak limbs come crashing down; pine trees bend near double and then snap in two. Some trees uproot and crash down. The birds are in trouble. The frozen ground makes it difficult to feed. All their water is frozen. Our wild cats have been off seeking shelter from the sleet and one is missing. Hopefully she's holed up somewhere dry.

It's warming up today. 34 degrees. So the ice is cascading from the treetops and raining down exploding brusts of ice on the little birds in the hedges and shrubs.

A little difficulty in life may help you learn to cope. You may become anured to hardship. I was reading about salt miners in Pakistan. They struggle in lifethreatening, backbreaking work for $2 a day. There have been no advances in their mining technology in the past 50 years. Isn't that impossible to fathom. The photos of the men showed tired weathered faces. The newspaper showed the a little black lady in La Grange. She is about to lose her 1000 sq. ft. house. She's been paying on the mortgage for 28 years but has fallen behind, and in Georgia banks can forclose on your house in 37 days, sell it on the courthouse steps and you are out and gone.
Her husband became ill with cancer at 50 and died. She was disabled when poor circulation caused her to have her leg amputated. She gets $994 a month in social security and her house payment is $459. I don't know what will become of her. But hey. Bank profits are up.

Hardships kill the weak. The problem with the Republican party is that their answer to hardship is "Be strong like me." God help them if they ever need compassion, mercy, or help."

I have cardinals, house finches, brown thrashers, sparrows, tufted titmouses, and bluejays at the feeder this morning. Everyone is hungry.