Firewood

There is something about cutting firewood that makes a person feel alive.  Maybe it's the knowledge that without firewood the winter will be very uncomfortable.  Or, maybe it's being immersed in natural elements that we modern Americans try to avoid.  Falling snow and bitter, cold wind are not our chosen companions most of the time.  Our whole way of life seems to be about the avoidance of discomfort, yet it is the discomfort that helps us to remember that we live.  Comfort brings complacency; discomfort brings awareness.  Given a choice between warm, snugly numbness and raw experience most of us would opt for oblivion.  It seems that many people would rather be dead than uncomfortable.  I would say that it is preferred to feel alive than dead.