Governor Rendell Was Right: We Are Becoming a Nation of "Wussies"

I was shocked - shocked, I tell you - when Jada and I got to her school courtyard yesterday morning to find it empty. We went all the way to the front door and found a small sign reading, "Will open two hours late." And all because of a "wintry mix" that was surprisingly fun to scrape off the car before Amy took it out for the morning and surprisingly difficult to bike in.

I had no idea to even register this as inclement weather, thus triggering even a look at the school district's website or turning on KYW. We trudged home, I got Jada settled, and proceeded to do my best to make the most of two hours at home, in terms of getting work-related stuff done on the computer.

Look, I'm as wimpy as they come when it comes to bad weather. I left California almost 20 years ago, and I'm still soft as it relates to the cold and to the elements. I'm already tired of the biting wind, the slushiness, and the way everything gets wet and dirty and messy.

But opening school two hours late in this kind of weather, after a dubious school closing last week because of about four to six inches of snow, seems absurdly hair-triggered. Governor Rendell was right: we are becoming a nation of "wussies." At this rate, I fear my kids won't have very many "when I was kid" stories involving arduous travel conditions to tell their grandkids.