I’ve come to the conclusion that air conditioning breeds weakness. Our apartment has a box air conditioner in the living room. It doesn’t exactly cool the entire apartment, but with a ceiling fan in the bedroom and a box fan in the hallway, we manage pretty well. In previous summers I haven’t been so lucky. Last year I lived on the first level of an apartment with an air conditioner that could only make the living room cold and moist. The bedroom stayed pretty warm. The previous year I was in Chicago with no AC at all. And every year at school we didn’t have AC.

I’ve noticed whenever I don’t have AC I somehow manage to get by. You drink cold liquids. You invest in a few well-placed fans. You have water fights. You go to the beach. You spend an hour picking out a video so you can enjoy the AC. It’s hot, but you deal with it.

Now that I have AC, even a window air conditioner, I’m a wuss. I suppose it doesn’t help that I spend all day long in air conditioned office. But I’m still a wuss. I get home and crank the AC, turn on all the fans, and collapse for a while. I have no desire to go outside. You couldn’t pay me to go outside. As soon as I get in my truck I have to blast the AC. I used to drive with the windows down.

Sometimes I wonder how people who live closer to the equator make it. But I guess people have been living close to the equator for a long time before air conditioning came along, and they seemed to just fine. I guess we need to toughen up.

Of course you may find it a bit ironic that I live in Minnesota and I’m complaining about the heat. Of course a football player recently died from heat stroke in Minnesota, so don’t start.