Welcome the diversity of seasons

The snow drops (Galanthus nivalis) are blooming. Green shoots of the jonquils, daffodils, narcissus are shooting up through the dry, brown leaves. Tiny buds are beginning to sprout on the native azalea.

The woods are still brown, gray and bare with no budding leaves, but spring is not far away.

Officially, spring begins Thursday, March 19, with the vernal equinox.

Here in the Arkansas Ozarks, it’s been a mild winter with temperatures seemingly on a roller coaster varying from below freezing temperatures one day to beautifully sunny warm days the next. People talk about the weather, complain about the weather and yet, cannot change the weather.

Four decades when I moved here, I declared it was the north. People here claimed it was the south. It’s really all about perspective.

The first decade of living here, I traveled home (Louisiana) at least four times a year. The spring trip was always full of wonder because the further south I drove, the more spring blossoms greeted me.

Leaving the bare, brown landscape of northwest Arkansas, I’d begin to see blossoms as I reached west central Arkansas and by the northern Louisiana border, there would be azaleas blooming in abundance.

Spring awakens joy as our spirits respond to the warmth and colors adorning the landscape.

The diversity of the seasons and the various landscapes of our country are beautiful.

“All the diversity, all the charm, and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.

The spring is all the more beautiful because of the bareness of winter.

Today, the word diversity is used often in reference to cultures of people. Interestingly, there is unity in diversity. We are all different — cultures, ethnicities, locales. We are all the same — human.

As we welcome spring and the change it brings from winter, let’s welcome the varying gifts of the people in our lives.

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Editor’s note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record. She can be reached at abeard@ nwadg.com.